Children of The War, Book 3: Fire
by James Golen
Summary: Sequel to Children of The War, Book 2. Aang wakes up after six months comatose with the summer of Sozin's Comet looming close. Will he be able to stop Fire Lord Ozai in time? Slight AU, Ty Lokka, all else canon...ish. Complete.
1. Aang Alone

**Alright. Third book, total time elapsed, fourty writing days. That was remarkably fast for me. Anyway.**

**First of all: Links to the previous stories in the same continuity. Just put www dot fanfiction before the below to jump to 'em.**

**Book 1- .net/s/6194328/1/Avatar_Book_1_Children_of_Water **

**Book 2- .net/s/6210945/1/Avatar_Book_2_Children_of_Earth**

**This is an Avatar: the Last Airbender story, based in a slight (for the time being) AU, wherein four major changes occurred. First, Jeong Jeong never defected from the Fire Nation, and instead opted to rise through the ranks, becoming one of the most powerful firebenders and influencial pedagogues to the Royal Family. Second, Suki was aged up from sixteen to twenty six, in no small part because I think she would sound badass if voiced by Jennifer Hale. Third: Due to a freak accident, Ty Lee spent almost two years stranded on Kyoshi Island, and met the Gaang during what would have been Season 1, long before she ever knew she was going to have to antagonise them. Fourth: When Aang gets out of the iceburg, the summer of Sozin's Comet is three years away, instead of 9 months. Why? I felt like it. Well, that's not true, but I had my reasons.**

**A notable addition to the Avatar world are languages. Water Tribesmen speak Yqanuac, which is derived from Mongolian and Saami roots. East Continent (aka, Earth Kingdoms) people usually speak Tianxia. It is the lingua franca of the setting, the trade language. It's the second language of just about everybody, and has roots in the many dialects of Chinese, with a distinct Arabic flavor. Huojian, the language of the Fire Nation, is primarily Japanese, but with a large dose of Spanish, as well. Other languages come up, but are often less used. There's Ackbiihu, the sandbender tongue, and mostly derives from Farsi. There's Whalesh, which, as the name might indicate, belongs to the people of Great Whales, and obviously enough, is more or less Welsh. Even within nations, there are dialects and languages, but the characters are worldly enough that they can communicate with each other in some manner. It only gets pointed out when it's relevant.**

**This is the home stretch. Canon is now just a suggestion. The kid gloves (and the chastity belts) come off. People are going to die. Other people are going to get horizontal in other, more entertaining ways. Ty Lee is a good guy. Azula has a chance at redemption. Zuko's destiny is in question. Mai wants a fruit tart. Ty Lokka, for purists who despise such things. Maiko, Kataang, and an appropriately screwed up sort of Ozulai for the rest.**

**Let's see if I can do this without bollucksing it up.**

* * *

For a long time, there was nothing but the void. How long? It couldn't be known. There were things before, but they were gone, now. Like it was. What was it? It had a name. It had a purpose. But they were gone. But something remained. Something like fear, but sweeter, finer, an exquisite agony, a chilling warmth. It had a name, in the void. It had a name, and it had love.

Pain. It remembered pain. It was the last thing it remembered, besides love. The pain was back. Surging through it. Sculpting it. Giving it dimension. The cycle ought have been broken. But it remained. Pain, and love. It had a name, in the void. And in the void, there was light. Specks, light against the darkness. The void was no longer, for it had light.

Light. White and round and hanging against the rich, dark blue above. That had a name also. It knew that name was Yue, the moon. The moon was full, staring down pristine and white. It had pain, coursing through its body, through its arms and its legs. It had arms... it had legs... But the greatest of pains was in its chest, for it had a chest. The void was no longer, and it had a form. This form fell backward, under no power of its own. It felt air enter its mouth, rushing to fill its emptied lungs. It had a name, and it was breathing.

Eyes stared down at him. Bright and blue and radiant. Full of hope. Full of love. It knew that name. That was Katara, staring down at it. She was crying. She was smiling. Hope shined in those eyes. Love shined in them. She had a name, and so did he. Her skin grew pale against the moonlight, and she plummeted out of view. He closed the eyes he knew he had, and let the darkness that was not the void wash over him.

* * *

"...but it's not good enough! What if he never wakes up! I don't know if I can..."

"...You have to have some faith. The world is waiting for him. And _when_ he awakens, it must be ready for him..."

"...getting the right words into the right place, at the right time, can make all the difference in the world..."

"Aang... please... wake up. Don't leave me alone."

The voices drifted Aang's ears, crashing together in a flurry of noise as his eyes snapped open. Pain coursed through him, tightening his chest and quickening his breath. It was hard to breathe. He tensed his eyes shut, trying to figure out which was worse, the pain in his head, or the pain in his chest. He decided it was a draw. Aang groaned, and slowly tipped his legs to the side, pulling the covers off of them. The hit the floor oddly, and he accidentally levered himself straight to the floor. He grunted in pain, then pushed himself back up to the edge of the bed.

He felt strange. He looked down at his chest, finding it a nest of bandages, most affixed so they could span his back. He tried to crane around to see what they were covering, but doing so made the pain swell higher. He shook his head. There was time for that later. When he found a mirror. He shook some of that slogginess out of his head, then tried to take a step. He let out a clipped yelp, dropping back to the his seat. He pulled up his left foot. There was a reddened bandage around it. He peeked through, and saw a burn on his sole.

"What happened to me?" a young man asked. Aang looked around in the darkness, panic in his eyes. "Who said that!" it dawned on him suddenly. "I said that? What happened to my voice?"

Aang rubbed hard at his forehead, trying to quell the pain in his brain. It was dark. He could barely see anything. He focused on his hand, feeling the heat in his fingertips, concentrating it until a tiny ball of flame appeared, hovering above his hand. He looked around. The room was all made of metal, and rugs of blacks and reds covered the floor. The room wasn't large, and the door looked secure. His stomach dropped. This was a prison cell. His eyes went to the object beside the door. He frowned. "If I'm in prison, why'd they leave me my staff?" Aang asked, still not used to his new, deeper voice. He felt like hammered hell. What had happened to him?

Aang carefully got to his feet, limping to his staff. He hefted it, finding it scuffed and beaten, but still intact. He leaned against the door, and almost fell over as it swung open. "Who throws somebody in prison and then forgets to lock the door?" Aang asked. He hobbled out, using his staff as a crutch. He moved through the hallway, until he came to a room which overlooked whatever it was he was in. He turned, peering through the morning sun, to the complex below. His blood ran cold.

He was on Whale Tail Island, in the Pohuai Stronghold. The last time he was here, he was Admiral Zhao's prisoner. And this time, he was almost certain that Zuko wasn't going to be showing up to rescue him. Aang glanced down, looking at the concentric rings of the fortress that ran out into the bay. How could he hope to cross that expanse this time, without backup, and in his depleted state? The walls were replete with men in red armor, waiting for him to try something.

But why, then, had he just walked out of his cell? And why wasn't he bound hand and foot, like last time? A smirk came to his face. "And why did they leave me my glider?" Aang asked. He turned and swung the staff at the glass, smashing it out and raining it down the massive drop of the tower. Somebody on the wall pointed up, shouting. The words were lost in the distance. Aang hauled himself up, snapped open his glider, and began to fly.

Or rather, he tried to. For some reason, he just couldn't seem to keep the wind under him. It was so elementary that he'd started gliding when he was seven, four years before others tended to. But today, the only winds holding him aloft were the ones which blew in from the sea. Needless to say, he was losing altitude, and losing it fast. He cleared the first wall, but not the second. Rather than smash headlong, and face first – in a rather Ty Lee like fashion – into a wall, he pulled the glider aside, shooting along the ground at head level. Soldiers cried out and ducked as he barreled inevitably to the ground.

The last person to dive out of his way was actually Ty Lee. She stared up at him in shock as she bent backward almost like a hinge. Aang made it only a few more paces before his glider tipped, caught on the ground, and spat him sliding across the wide, smooth stone floor. Aang rolled, gasping in pain. Above, a firebender just finished a motion, emitting a small blast of fire. The soldier turned toward Aang, and then, in alarm, tore off its helmet. It was Sokka.

"Aang! You're awake!" Sokka shouted.

Aang shook his head, unable to believe his eyes. This had to be some sort of nightmare. Or at the best, a dream. He tried to scramble away, but Ty Lee slid next to him, giving him a hug which pressed his face against her breasts. Yup. Definitely a dream. But if this was a dream, then where was...

"Katara?" Aang mumbled against Ty Lee's bosom. She looked down at him, confusion on her face, then she smiled.

"Don't worry, everything's gonna be alright," she beamed, letting him drop back to the floor. She ran off, practically skipping, but still maintaining an impressive speed. Sokka then gathered Aang up into a very similar hug, albeit one without a bosom.

"Aang! What are you doing up?" Sokka asked.

"Why're you a firebender?" Aang asked. He felt very faint.

"Oh, great, Twinkletoes' head got cracked," a voice came. It didn't sound exactly like Toph, but there wasn't anybody else on Earth who called him Twinkletoes. He looked over, and there she was. And yet wasn't. She didn't look the same. She had the same milky green eyes, the same black hair, but now it was worn up in a beehive, and hung in front of her face. Her clothes were all Fire Nation red and black, long sleeved and short legged. She was taller than she was before. More developed. What was going on?

"I don't feel so good," Aang said. His eyes began to roll. Pushing through the crowd, he saw those eyes. Those glorious eyes. She moved closer. Katara had always been so beautiful. He didn't understand how he could have missed it before. But now... it was like she'd ripened. "Better now..."

"Aang!" she said. But he was done. The shock finally working its way up his neck and into his head, he finally fell back into that blissful unconsciousness, where next his dreams would have him perhaps in Katara's bosom instead of the acrobat's. If he was lucky.

* * *

_"You know, you're picking this up faster than I thought possible," Ty Lee said to him. Sokka shrugged. "I'm surprised your sister's having such a hard time of it."_

_Sokka shook his head. "I had a head start," he said. "She's just starting to learn. It's not easy picking up another language, you know?"_

_"Yeah, but you're already onto reading in Whalesh, and she can barely..."_

_"We've all got our strengths and weaknesses. You can paralyze anybody just by lookin' at them funny. Toph can bend metal. I can read anything with words. My sister can bring people back from the dead. Let me keep my specialty."_

_Ty Lee shook her head, but it was with a smile and an eye roll. "Fine. But you're going to need to come up with an alias."_

_"What? Sokka's not going to do?"_

_"If you can get them to believe you're a colonial, maybe, but with eyes like that, and the way you comically over-pronounce everything you say, people are going to immediately peg you as an Azuli," Ty Lee pointed out. Sokka scratched at his imaginary beard. He raised a finger._

_"FIRE!" he declared._

_"Fire?" she asked, confused._

_"WANG FIRE!"_

Sokka looked down at Aang, then sighed, stepping away so his sister could fuss over him. Ty Lee was back at his side quickly, looking down at them. All of the soldiers seemed confused by the scene. "What happened to Aang?" Ty Lee asked.

"He's just in shock," Katara said, exhaling her fears. She looked up at Sokka. "Help me get him inside. It's going to rain soon, and I don't want him out here in that."

Sokka obliged, scooping up the young man. Aang weighed a lot more than he did the first time Sokka hauled him up from the ground, three years and not so many leagues ago. Of course, puberty did tend to do that; it hit Aang like a dead whale out of a catapult in the last few months. He moved the stricken Avatar to a guard tower near the gate, setting him on a cot. Ty Lee was standing next to him, holding his hand in hers, about an instant later.

"Is he alright?" Ty Lee asked. Katara glanced her way, coolly. Despite all this time, Katara was still mistrustful of Ty Lee. He could see her perspective. Anybody who kept going back to Azula couldn't be entirely sane. But then again, anybody who fought against people like Azula with nothing but a soapstone club and a boomerang wasn't exactly properly mentally balanced, either.

"He's coming around," Katara said, pulling out her water and laying healing hands on temples, through the black hair which had grown once everybody stopped bothering to cut it. Aang's eyes slid open, and he looked around the room. "Aang..." Katara said, as though unsure what to say. "How do you feel?"

"Where am I?" Aang asked. His voice had deepened since last he spoke. Of course, the last time he'd spoken was around half a year ago.

"You're in Pohuai Stronghold, on Whale Tail Island," Sokka explained. Aang's eyes went wide.

"Are you all prisoners, too?" he asked, trying to get up, but he fell back with a wince, clutching at his lower back. It was probably the only place he could reach without disturbing the massive burn on his spine. Aang's eyes opened again. "This is a dream. I'm still dreaming. Ty Lee's here, Toph's different and Sokka's a firebender."

"Yeah... about that," Sokka said. He rolled up his sleeve, to show the system of tubes running along his arms. "Firebending for the non-firebender. I figured, people outside wouldn't believe the charade if we didn't have somebody firebending in eyeshot of the shore."

"Charade?" Aang asked, baffled.

Ty Lee looked around, then nodded. "Yeah... The Whalesh have taken over Pohuai Stronghold. I helped!"

"We all helped," Katara said. "And we managed to take it without anybody noticing, which was a miracle in and of itself. There probably isn't any less likely place for us to show up than in their most secure fortress outside of the homeland."

"My plan, of course," Sokka said, with a bow. Aang just looked bleary-eyed at the people. "Well, mine and Dad's. And Jee's too, but he had to leave a few weeks ago."

"Jee, from the swamp?" Aang asked. Sokka sighed. Come to think of it, there was a lot that happened in the last half-year. Aang's eyes went wide with panic. "Did I miss the eclipse?"

"No, it's not summer yet," Sokka reassured. "We have plenty of time to prepare for the invasion. But it won't be like we thought it would be. We don't have the armies of Ba Sing Se to depend on. It'll just be us and a rag-tag group of our friends and allies..."

"And some Whalesh," Ty Lee added.

"And some Whalesh," Sokka included, "moving to a rendezvous point deep inside the Fire Nation, storming through the Gates of Azulon and taking the fight to the enemy on the Day of Black Sun," Sokka's face dropped a bit. "The problem is, we still don't know what day it's going to be. Which is why we need to leave for the Fire Nation, soon."

Aang looked at Sokka, then Katara. "What happened in Ba Sing Se?" he asked. Sokka felt his stomach turn. Of course. Aang couldn't have known. "Why can't they help us?"

"The Earth Kingdoms have fallen," Ty Lee said quietly. "Long Feng assassinated Earth King Kuei, and then _he_ was cast down by Azula. She left a Joo Dee in charge. I'm sorry, Aang, but the Fire Nation pretty much rules the world at this point." Aang cradled his head, wincing. Definitely from pain, but from what source, emotional or physical, Sokka couldn't say. Ty Lee tried to mount a smile. "I like your hair," she said, gamely.

"I have hair?" Aang said, patting over his head, feeling the long black locks which now covered his scalp, mostly obscuring his arrow. "Great. My voice, now my head. What else has changed?"

"Well, we're all wanted fugitives," Katara said.

"Except me!" Ty Lee enthusiastically declared.

"And you're dead," Sokka finished. Aang wilted at that. "That'll work to our advantage. While people might be looking for us, they won't give you a second glance, because as far as they're concerned, Prince Zuko killed you in Ba Sing Se."

"Wait... It wasn't Zuko," Aang shook his head. "And what do you mean I'm dead?"

"Yeah, isn't that great?" Sokka asked.

"Great?" Aang shouted. "It's terrible! I can't be dead! I'm the Avatar! Ugh, why can't things ever work out well? I need time to think."

"Well, if you want to..."

"Alone," Aang said. Everybody exchanged glances amongst themselves, then nodded. If Aang wanted to think this thing through, then they had to let him. He was two seasons behind the ball as it was. Sokka was the first to leave, Ty Lee right behind him. When the cleared the threshold and vanished around a corner, Ty Lee surged forward with a hug.

"Yeah, I know. He's gonna be alright," Sokka said. Ty Lee shook her head against his chest.

"I don't think so. I think he's lost more than we can ever know," she said. Sokka sighed, pulling the former acrobat tight against him. He didn't know what she meant, but knew she really did mean it. It fell on Katara to get the Avatar back on his feet.

* * *

"Are you sure you want to be alone?" Katara asked after her brother and his little doxie left. Thinking about that circus freak, all the things that she'd done both for and against them, set her blood to a boil. And that her brother seemed to trust her so completely set her on edge. For all they all knew, she could be spying for Azula. But then again, if that were the case, why hadn't Azula swooped in to snuff out Aang the first chance she'd gotten?

Aang looked at her, and hung his head. "I don't know what to believe," he said. "The last thing I remember, I was in the Royal Palace. We were fighting the Dai Li, Azula and Zuko. Then..." he shook his head, running his hand through his hair. "I failed again," he said.

"Aang, don't say that."

"It's true!" Aang pressed. "It seems like that's all I'm capable of. I run away from the Southern Air Temple, and my people get wiped out. I try to defend the North Pole, to protect your people, but I can't save Tui or La, and the love of Sokka's life has to die so the world doesn't end. I try to save the Earth Kingdoms, and the Earth King dies, and the last truly safe place from the Fire Nation in the world falls into the hands of the enemy! Is there nothing I don't corrupt by my touch?"

Katara turned down her eyes. Aang was beyond upset. She was surprised he wasn't moving into the Avatar State, the way he was going on. She reached over and placed her hands on his shoulders. "You did the best you could. If it wasn't for you, Azula would have killed me, too," Aang looked away. "Come on. I think it's time I tried to heal that burn on your back."

Katara moved behind Aang, winding the bandages away. Some of them clung and had to be pulled, ripping away and bringing a groan to Aang's throat. She looked upon that burn, still fresh as the day he'd gotten it, right in the center of his back, cutting the blue tattoos in half. She bent the water from her flask into her hands and began to work it over the injury. "It really hurts," Aang said quietly.

"I'm sorry. Where does it hurt the most?" she asked. She worked her healing, and finally, the flesh seemed to knit together. All of the other times she'd attempted it, she might as well have been trying to firebend.

"A little lower," he said. She moved her hands downward, right to the core of the burn. He let out a long groan, his face a tight rictus of pain. She healed him, and as she did, she leaned forward, just to feel that warmth rising from him, smell his sweat. To be close to him. In a way, she couldn't be much closer. A part of her was inside him, now.

"Does that feel better? I think I can feel a lot of bound up energy right there..." she asked. Aang continued to wince. She pushed that healing power deeper, trying to reach the nadir of the wound, but Aang pulled away, arching his back. A gasp issued from his throat, but he had the look on his face like he was trying desperately to scream. She stopped at once, and he slumped forward. "Aang, I'm so sorry..."

"Yeah, I think you've found the right spot," he said, looking up at her with pain in those grey eyes. He stared away for a moment. "I wasn't just hurt, was I?"

"What do you mean?" Katara asked. Aang turned.

"I remember. Guru Pathik said that if I wanted to enter the Avatar State, I had to give up the people that I loved. I had to give up you," he said. Katara's heart rose into her throat. "And when I knew I couldn't save you from them... I did it. I became Avatar Aang."

Katara's heart crashed. He'd given her up. "I..."

"So much power. So much skill and knowledge," Aang said. He looked up at her again, his eyes stormy. "And when I saw Azula was going to strike you down, I didn't hesitate. I chose attachment. I locked the chakra... I can't go into the Avatar State at all anymore."

Katara just stared, dumbfounded. On one hand, she felt conflicted that he would give up his strongest weapon, his best defense against the Fire Nation. On the other... he'd chosen her. He looked away, and hung his head. "I wasn't just _hurt_ was I?" he asked again. "When I got hit... I wasn't hurt. I was gone. I mean... I was _dead_, wasn't I? Azula struck me down while I was in the Avatar State. Even if I could go into the Avatar State... there probably wouldn't be anything there when I did. I was dead..." he looked up at her. "So why am I breathing?"

"Because I wasn't ready to let you go," Katara said, pulling him close. He just let her hold him, his eyes distant. She stayed there, with him, until his eyes finally slid closed, and he fell asleep, free from his pain, from his fears. From the failures he saw in himself. Katara quietly slipped away. She wished she could heal it all away. But she didn't have that kind of power. With one last glance to the Avatar, that 'powerful bender' she had been told years before she would eventually fall in love with, she closed the door and walked out into the rain.

* * *

"Do you see it, Son?" Hakoda asked. Sokka peered through the spy glass and nodded. "They just keep coming, don't they?"

"As far as the world knows, this place is still a Fire Nation garrison," Sokka said. "Let's not give them any reason to assume otherwise."

Sokka jumped down from the wall, pulling his helmet onto his head. It wasn't the big ugly piece of kit that most firebenders wore; this one didn't have a face plate. But the armor fit him well enough, and he was the most proficient speaker of Huojian who wasn't an acrobat or a blind girl. That made him the voice of Pohuai. The ship steamed up to the wharf and extended its gangplank. Sokka turned to one side, watching as Toph quietly got into position. Katara was on the docks, looking busy. Three men walked down toward him, two of them firebenders.

"You there, where is Commander Shinu?" the leader asked.

"Shinu left me in command," Sokka lied. Shinu was actually enjoying the accouterments of his own prison cells. "What is your business in Pohuai?"

"Resupply and refit," the captain said. Sokka looked pensive for a moment, then checked a board and shook his head.

"Sorry, there's not much in the way of parts," Sokka lied. There was enough crap lying around to make two warships from scratch. "We've had a bad run recently, a lot of people coming through for repairs. You'd be better off getting a refit over at Colony 12."

The man nodded to himself. One firebender whispered something to him. "It couldn't hurt to hand over a few provisions, though," he said. Toph walked up to the pier, shaking her head lightly. Something was wrong. Sokka put on his winningest smile.

"I'll see if there's anything I can do for you," he said. He turned, and Toph fell in beside him. "What?" he asked. She nodded toward them.

"'Shinu was supposed to rotate out a month ago, but there's been no word of him'," she repeated. "'Colony 12 got renamed Hokai back in spring'. Sokka, they know."

"Crud," Sokka said. He turned, the smile back on his face. "One more thing. I could use a signature for those supplies."

"Of course," the captain said. As he left the plank, Toph reached down, and pounded her fist into it. A streak of twisted metal shot up the gangplank, then down the hull of the ship. Toph tore, and everything metal parted like a wound.

"They're impostors! Send out the alert!" voices came from the ship. Sokka grabbed the helmet of the captain, and leapt up, kneeing him in the face. With the captain dealt with for the moment, Toph turned, and shouted.

"Load me up!" she cried. From the gates up into the stronghold, a catapult fired, but this rock, unlike so many that the Fire Nation employed, was not afire. Toph thrust out her hands toward it in the air, and wrenched. The stone altered in its flight, smashing into the highest point of the ship, destroying the helm.

That was when Katara made her grand entrance. Standing at the head of the pier, she pulled toward her, and a great surge of water shot up from the sea, welling before her, before she thrust out, and a wave, every bit as tall as the ship moored at the end, rolled out. The ship, already torn open by Toph's metalbending, was instantly swamped and began to list helplessly. She pulled back and around, and a great torrent of seawater pulled itself up out of the surf, smashing against the deck, throwing the soldiers into the unforgiving waves. Toph began to move again, slamming her foot down into the metal pier, and kicking to a side. A boat which was fastened to the far end shot forward, powered by her bending, and smashed into the listing boat, capsizing it.

All in a few seconds. Katara jumped down and ran to the pier. "Did any hawks get out?" she asked. Sokka shook his head. He'd been watching for them, boomerang in hand. No word. "Good. I don't think we're going to be keeping this place a secret much longer. Too many people are coming by."

"And that's a bigger problem than you know," Hakoda said, approaching his children. "Since they've captured Omashu and the Earth Kingdoms are nominally under their rule, that means they only have one target. The South Pole. They must think the Avatar is being reborn there even as we speak."

"And instead, they'll find Master Pakku and dozens of trained waterbenders," Katara said grimly. "I almost pity them. Almost."

Sokka turned back, and his gaze caught a black haired figure standing on the ramparts above. Aang was watching as the Whalesh waterbenders, newly returned from Misty Swamp, set about taking prisoners and salvaging the sinking Fire Nation ship. Aang looked down at Sokka, his expression unreadable at this distance, but Sokka had a fairly good idea what was going through the young Avatar's mind.

Sokka pulled off the armor which chafed him, not in body but in spirit, every time he donned it. Sooner or later one of the others was going to have to speak the language. He wasn't a public speaker, not by any stretch, but everybody else either didn't speak Huojian, or had an obvious accent. Sokka moved into the gatehouse, intending to talk to Aang, but he was waylaid when a flash of pink came to a stop in front of him. Ty Lee glanced about, holding a long stick. "What did I miss?"

"Almost got invaded," Sokka said casually. Ty Lee frowned. Sokka grinned. "Were you asleep?"

"No," she said. She glanced away. "Fine, yes. I was excited, with Aang back up. I thought we'd be leaving soon, so I figured I should get some rest."

"I can't fault the reasoning," Sokka admitted. He kicked off his boots and sat on a bench by the wall. She instantly moved to sit beside him. "Something about Aang isn't in, though. Like he's... scared. Or something."

"He just woke up to find that we've all grown without him. He has to catch up," Ty Lee said, resting her head on his shoulder. "It can't be easy."

"I guess not," Sokka said. He leaned his cheek into her hair. "We should probably get back out there. With Aang up, it can't be long now."

"Yeah," she acceded. She bounded up and skipped away. Sokka shook his head with a smile. There was pretty much nothing which got Ty Lee down for more than a few minutes, then she was up and smiling again. He could do well to emulate her. But at the moment, he had preparations to make. Food, money, a schedule. And he needed a tent. A big, private one.

* * *

Aang turned away from the scene before him. Everybody just worked together so well, like they'd become this well oiled machine. And where was Aang? Outside. Watching. He turned and walked away, still smarting every time his left foot hit the floor. It would likely take a long while to heal that. And he didn't have time. Not anymore. Before, he thought he'd have all the time in the world. But then, all of this happened, and now time was working against him. Two months till the eclipse, four until Sozin's Comet.

He was lost in his ponderances, and was startled back to reality when a man with a Tribesman's haircut and a short beard approached. "I must say, it is an honor to finally meet you in person," he said. His voice was deep, used to being in authority. But he looked a lot like Sokka. Was this their father?

Aang shrugged. "Not much of an honor, the way things have been going," he admitted. The man shrugged.

"You are the Avatar. We still have faith that you can end this war, even if the rest of the world doesn't even know you're alive," he said.

"I should tell them," Aang said. "They need me! I'm a symbol to these people!"

He shook his head. He had to be Hakoda. Nobody else fit the description. "Sokka says that would be a bad idea, and I agree with him. Right now, you might be able to bend air, water, earth and fire, but my son's element of choice is the element of surprise. I understand how much it must hurt to feel like you're abandoning the people who depend on you. If you've talked to my children at all, you understand just _how much_ I realize it. But sometimes, you have to do what hurts you, or even hurts them, in order to protect them and the ones that they care about. I made a sacrifice to protect my family and keep the war from arriving on my doorstep. Now, it has, and I'm called away again."

"You get it, then. Why it's so hard for me," Aang said. Hakoda nodded. "I think I need to be alone," he said.

"Despite what you think," Hakoda said as Aang was walking away, "I don't believe you failed. None of us do. We still have faith in you."

"That faith should have died when I did," Aang muttered. He walked to his room, limping against his glider staff. He could feel his bending sense come back to him as he went about his day. His weakness must have been a form of grogginess right inside his soul. He walked, and he watched. In the innermost bailey was the Mechanist and his son, Teo, who messed about with their inventions and toys. There were others there, too. Aang recognized the pair of Pipsqueak and The Duke, big and tiny respectively, helping the eccentrics. They had been part of Jet's freedom fighters, once. Now, they were just refugees. Like everybody else.

Aang went into the tower, and flopped into his room. He was hungry, but he needed to rest. He needed to look inside himself. He didn't even know if he was still Avatar. He punched out, and a blast of flame came off his knuckles. Good, earlier wasn't a fluke; he could still bend something besides air. But that was the barest fraction of what it meant to be the Avatar. He settled down, despite the aching in his body, and closed his eyes, drifting into a meditative state, then letting the world wash away.

When Aang opened his eyes again, it was not in his room. Here, the skies were golden, hazy and cloudy. It was the Spirit World. He looked around. This was familiar. Entirely too familiar. The last time he came to the Spirit World of his own intention, it had been in the North Pole. And here, more than half the world away, it looked almost identical.

"Oooooooohm." a voice said in the air. Aang rolled his eyes, reached over, and took a stick from the ground. He walked up to the monkey, sitting in fine robes, meditating under an ornamental gate. Aang poked it with a stick. It snapped its eye open, then furiously ignored Aang. "OOOOOOHM!" he said.

"Stop that," Aang said, prodding him again.

"Go. Away." the monkey answered.

"No," Aang said. He settled himself down in front of the monkey, his stick across his knees. "I have questions, and I need them answered."

"Follow that thing," the monkey said, pointing to a Will'o'the'Wisp which flitted past. Aang shook his head.

"Not falling for that again," Aang said. The monkey sighed, and opened his eyes.

"I shouldn't have thought it would work more than once. Although the second time, at least you didn't poke me with a stick," he said, before closing his eyes again. Aang frowned. This _was_ the second time he'd come here.

"Um. I've only seen you once before," Aang said.

"Once, three times, five, twenty," the monkey shrugged. "It's all the same, all a matter of time. Time is an illusion, Avatar. And so is death."

"That's my point. I died in the Avatar State," Aang said. "Who can I talk to about that?"

"You should talk to Sun Wukong, the Handsome King, Great Sage Equal to Heaven," the monkey said. Aang brightened for a moment, then hesitated. He pondered what Sokka would do in this situation. And then the answer flopped onto his head like a dead fish.

"That's you, isn't it?" Aang asked.

"I am known by many names," Sun Wukong said. "That is one of them."

"Why did I come here? I wasn't anywhere near the Spirit Oasis at the North Pole."

"The Spirit World obeys different laws, Avatar," the monkey said, becoming annoyed. "Now go away. I wish to achieve perfection before the end of the universe."

"Give me answers, and I'll stop poking you with this stick," Aang said. He didn't like extorting a spirit, but he was fairly sure he couldn't out-wait the Great Sage any other way. When Sun Wukong ignored him, Aang poked him.

"I see you were serious in your threats," the monkey said, annoyance plain. "Very well. I will answer your questions if it makes you _LEAVE ME ALONE_," he shifted from a meditative stance to a more yogic one. "You died in the Avatar State, but you yet live. That is the power of the Blood Moon. It is a state which women of the water can enter, and inside, makes them capable of feats beyond compare. In times long past, women of the water could bring the people they loved back from beyond the gates of death; however, there was always a dire cost. In order to restore life to the dead, they must sacrifice their own existence."

"Katara almost died to bring me back?" Aang asked, horrified. He ran his hands over his scalp. Here, it was still shaved. "Oh, man. This can't be happening."

"It has happened. It will happen again. It is happening right now," Sun Wukong said. "As to your status as Avatar? You died in the state of communion, and your death was spread to all of them. When you were brought back, they were as well. They are still connected to you. So stop panicking like you have been set on fire. Last time, you were complaining about having to save dragons, and you weren't nearly so annoying."

"Save dragons? I never..."

"One of you did, anyway," the monkey shook his head, closing his eyes. "There are so many, I do not care to keep track. You have your answer. Now: Leave. Me. Alone."

"No. I need more. If Katara was supposed to die to bring me back, why is she still alive?" Aang asked. "Why did I sleep for six damned months! When is the eclipse?"

"Go. Away," Sun Wukong said. Aang stared at it, then hung his head. He'd gotten all he would out of that difficult spirit. He handed over the stick, laying it across the monkey's crossed knees.

"I will leave you to your meditations," Aang said, walking back to the tree which marked his entrance. He knew the feeling of crossing between realms. Heibai had taught him that. As he turned, it was just in time to see Sun Wukong idly chuck the stick away.

"Finally," the monkey said, and Aang let the Spirit World slip away.

Aang opened his eyes, and was surprised when blue eyes stared back at him. Katara was standing over him, concern in her features. Aang couldn't look at her right now. Knowing what she had done. Almost done. What he'd almost given up without realizing it. "Aang, what were you doing?" she asked.

"I was asking a few questions," Aang said. He stood. The pain was lessened. That was good. Because he had something he needed to do. "And I got answers to them."

"Aang, come with us. We should get dinner, you must be starving," Katara said, rising to his side. He looked her in the eye. He still couldn't get over how he was now taller than her. He turned away from her, hefting his staff.

"I know what you did," Aang said. "What could have happened when you brought me back," she looked at him, her face an impenetrable wash of emotion. "I always knew I had to face the Fire Lord. Now, I know I have to face him alone."

"Aang, I'm not leaving you. Not ever," she said. Aang turned to her. No. He wasn't going to lose somebody close to him. Not because of his failures.

"Just go," Aang ordered. She looked hurt. She stepped to the door, and turned back.

"Is there anything you need?" she asked.

"I need to undo every mistake I've made the last two years," Aang said. "I need my honor back."

He watched Katara, the woman he loved, the woman who almost died to save his life, close the door and vanish from view. They'd all lost so much. He couldn't ask them to lose anything else for him. When he said he would have to do this alone, he wasn't lying. No matter how hard, it all came down to him. He waited until her footfalls vanished down the hallway, then Aang started to walk, leaving his room behind.

* * *

Sokka marveled at his newest invention; instead of being forever at the mercy of brushes, now, he could deliver ink with pinpoint precision. He wondered what he should call this delightful, mechanical device. He was scratching off notes onto his prospective schedule, Ty Lee by his side, when he heard a cry. He looked up.

"Katara?" Sokka asked. She came flying out of the hall, sticking her head out of the window and glancing desperately at the sky. Sokka went to his sister. "What's wrong?"

She turned to her, tears leaking from her eyes. "He left!" she said. Cried. Wailed, almost. Sokka's expression went dark. "Aang just took his glider and left. He's got some idiotic idea that it's his responsibility to destroy the Fire Nation on his own."

"Why would he do that?" Sokka asked. "I mean, he knows how much better we are when we work together. The only reason he would leave us behind is if he thought..." Sokka trailed off. He glanced at Ty Lee, then back to his sister. "...if he thought he was going to hurt us."

"But he hasn't, and he won't!" Katara said. "I mean, the only thing he said to me before he left was that he knew..." she paused. She looked up at Sokka. "Sokka... when I healed Aang... how bad did it look?"

"I thought you were dying," Sokka said, honestly. "I didn't know what to do."

Katara looked away. "He did this because of me?" she asked. Sokka shook his head.

"It doesn't matter why he did it. He's still a kid in a lot of ways. He thinks this is his way of being brave."

"It's not brave, it's stupid and selfish!" Katara said. "We should be with him! Helping him! Doesn't he know how much he needs us? How much we need him?"

"I think that's why he's doing this," Sokka said. He looked out at the sky, a smirk coming to his face. "But there's nothing stopping us from following him."

"How? How could we possibly follow him?" she asked.

"Appa," Sokka said, pointing down at the massive, white, furry, sky bison which was resting in the inner bailey. "And there's only one Fire Nation island that Aang could reach, even at his speeds, before he passes out from exhaustion. Crescent Island."

"Then we need to hurry. Whether or not Aang wants it, he's getting our help," she said. Ty Lee clapped her hands, with a squeal of delight. Team Avatar rode again.

* * *

Zuko walked through the hallways of Ashfall prison. It was a place as bleak and inhospitable as the substance it was named for, hewn from the rock of a cliff. It was grey, cold, and quiet. A prison for those who were dangerous enough to require maximum attention, but also requiring... proximity... to the capital. He walked, trying to think of what he was going to say. It tormented him, tearing at his very sense of self. He was afraid. He was alone, despite all those around him. And there was only one person he could turn to for advice.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" a man with a spear demanded. Zuko grabbed the spear levied against his chest and pulled it past. The guard, unwilling to lose his weapon – a mistake in and of itself – was dragged into Zuko's grasp. Zuko slammed him into the wall.

"I am visiting General Iroh," Zuko said quietly, letting the hood fall from over his features. "And you are going to make sure nobody interrupts me. Are we clear?"

"Yes, Prince Zuko," the guard said. Zuko moved to Iroh's cell, and ducked inside. The metal door slammed behind him, and he looked down at the ratty, sack-cloth rags that Uncle wore. It was a travesty. It was unforgivable. It was entirely Zuko's fault. Zuko knelt next to the bars, pulling out a package he'd smuggled with him, and pushed it through the bars.

"It's fried lizard," Zuko said. "I know it's not your favorite, but it must beat prison food," he laughed weakly. Iroh resolutely turned away, facing the back wall. Zuko rested his forehead against the bars inside the cell. It was a cage within a cage. Probably the least of what Ozai considered secure for Uncle. "You were right," Zuko said quietly. "I come home, and it's nothing like what I imagined it to be. I wanted so much to be back in these familiar places, with these familiar people. It consumed my every waking thought. My every dream. But now... Uncle, I need your advice," Zuko looked up, grasping the bars. "Please. The more I think about it, the surer I am. I think the Avatar is alive! I know he's still out there, waiting, plotting."

Uncle was silent, staring at the wall. Zuko felt that heat rising in him. "Please! Talk to me! I'm afraid of what will happen. I don't know what to do! Everything I ever wanted... I can't lose it again. I need your help. Please, tell me! What should I do?" Uncle remained motionless. Zuko rose, feeling that rage swelling in him. "Fine! Stay silent for all I care! I'll deal with it on my own, the way I should have in the first place! You're a crazy old man, and if you weren't in here, you'd be sleeping in a gutter. You could have come home a hero! Why did you have to betray Father in Ba Sing Se? Lunatic. Traitor! Stay in here and rot, you old fool."

Zuko turned, just the barest glance over his shoulder before slamming the door behind him. Zuko's glare must have motivated the guard to be somewhere else. Zuko fumed, feeling that heat searing at him. He couldn't stand it. He kicked up the stool the guard had been sitting on, and smashed his fist into it, letting flare a blast of fire so hot it was as blue as any of Azula's. Lately, much of his fire was that electric blue. The stool burst into ashes, and a melted depression formed in the stone of the wall.

Zuko turned, pressing his back against the far wall, staring at his hands. Until Ba Sing Se, he had been utterly incapable of matching Azula's blue fire. Now, it kept reappearing. Father was delighted, in his calculating way, but some part of Zuko could only look at it and quail. "Why am I so bad at being good?" Zuko asked the darkness.

* * *

When Zuko slammed the door, he stopped fighting it. Staring at the wall, feeling those hate-filled words stabbing into him. Was everything he'd hoped for coming to naught? Had Ozai reclaimed his son? Iroh's head bowed down, and silent sobs drifted from him. He had lost the last of his family.

* * *

The plaintive cries of puffins, so much like discontented moans, drifted to his ears. He felt battered and beaten. More than usual, even. He coughed, and there was sea-water on his breath. He looked over at the hard, black stone which he was lying against. He reached around him, but his glider was gone. A failure and a failure and a failure, Aang. He set his head back, just letting that hopelessness wash over him as the surf lapped at his feet. He felt a stirring, something standing next to him. He turned, and beheld the spectral presence of Roku, staring down at him.

"I've failed," Aang said.

"You have only failed when you have stopped trying," Avatar Roku said sagely. "And they will never let you stop trying. It is not in your nature, nor your blood, nor their faith. Trust in them, Aang. Their faith was not given to you lightly."

"But what if I can't win?"

"Don't ask if you can't," Roku said, his image wafting away. "Ask _how_ you can."

Aang sat up, holding his side. It hurt, but less than he'd thought it would. The puffins cried, and he looked out at the sea. Then, something landed on him. Aang turned, and was face to face with a black and white lemur. "Momo!" Aang shouted, a smile instantly on his face. The lemur seemed quite pleased with himself. He looked past them, as a groan filled the air. The others were here, running down the beach, toward him.

"Aang! You're alright!" Katara said, sliding next to him and cradling her head against her bosom. He pondered for a briefest moment if he might be dreaming, but the pain let him know that this was a happy reality.

"You didn't really think you were gonna get out of training that easily, did ya', Twinkletoes?" Toph asked, her arms crossed in front of her, a smirk on her face.

"You were right, Sokka!" Ty Lee said, smiling brightly. "We just had to follow the lemur!"

Aang looked at his companions, those that he trusted with his life. And Ty Lee. He hung his head. "I'm sorry I ran... I guess it's an old habit that's hard to shake," he looked around. Besides the five teenagers, the island was empty. "What about the Invasion?" he asked.

"Dad and the Whalesh are going to meet us at the rendezvous the day before the eclipse," Sokka said. He sighed. "It's probably safer that way. We're all wanted criminals."

"Not me!" Ty Lee said happily.

"So we'd just attract unwanted attention to the army," Sokka completed, giving Ty Lee a smile. She beamed back. Toph reached into the water and picked something up.

"Hey, I found your... oh," she said. It was his glider, snapped in half and its sail torn to shreds. Aang shook his head, standing and taking it from her.

"It's alright," he said evenly. "Everybody knows Avatar Aang carries this thing. It could give away our identities," he looked down on this, the last real object that tied him to his old home, his old life in the Southern Air Temple. Even his saddle was a slapdash replacement they'd crafted in Ba Sing Se. He shook his head. "It's better... if people think I'm dead."

Aang held the staff away from him, and felt the fire run. It burst through the soaked wood, flashing it into flame despite its every intention to the opposite. He dropped it, letting the fire from his hands bathe over it, until it was a small pile of char and ashes. Aang looked out across the water. They were in the Fire Nation. The Eclipse was coming.


	2. The Master of Masters

**I have decided that the monkey in the spirit world reads a lot of fanfiction. Why? It amuses me to think that he's the only being in the universe who knows what every possible retelling of the story of Aang looks like. Also, more background on characters, namely Piandao. Why did he think he should make Ty Lee into a modern age Air Nomad? Read and find out.**

**Also, Azula is fundamentally unwell. Yeah, she's still cunning and brilliant, and the most powerful firebender in the entire series, but mentally, she's cracked, and she's been cracked for years. And take a wild guess who made her that way. Yeah, she starts getting crazy earlier than in canon. Kind of the point. Also, cockblocking seems to run in her very blood, I say with a smirk on my face.**

**Finally, the next few episodes might as well be renamed "Sokka is unexpectedly awesome, parts 1, 2, and 3" for all their subject matter. The hilarious thing was, when I started writing this internal arc, it wasn't going to be like this, but then, I finished the chapter after this one, and I knew I had to run with it. **

* * *

Azula looked up from her dolls, smiling as Mother approached. She held out her arms, and she was picked up quickly, a loving smile returned down on her. Father just gave a glance at her, then looked away. She didn't know why Father was angry all the time. This was a happy place. Everybody was nice to them. And they had everything they ever wanted. This Azula, this child Azula, she didn't know. He walked into her room, then turned, raising an eyebrow at her. It scared Azula a little.

"What happened in here?" Father asked. Mommy held Azula tightly.

"Leave her alone, Ozai. She's just a little girl," Mommy said. The room beyond was blackened and scorched. Azula hadn't meant to. It just sort of... happened. She looked up at her father, at those golden eyes which passed down the line to her.

"I'm sorry, Father," she said, her voice quivering.

"What happened in here?" Father asked again. This time, it was louder. More demanding.

"Ozai..."

"Not now! This is none of your concern!" Ozai snapped at Mommy. She looked stung. Father turned back to Azula. "Did you do this?" he asked. She turned away. He pulled her chin and pointed at the room. "Did you burn your room? Or was it Zuko?"

Azula glanced over to Zuzu, who was staring gobsmacked at his father. Azula shook her head. "It was me, Father. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to," she said. But Ozai wasn't angry, not like she expected. A smile came to his face. It was the first time he'd ever smiled around her. Father turned to Mommy.

"You see? I knew at least one of my children had to be a worthwhile firebender," he said. "And to think, it would be my five year old daughter," Ozai gave a glance to Zuko. Zuko blanched. "We are going to speak to the Firemaster about this. Jeong Jeong will no doubt have much to say about this. An unbroken line of firebenders is vital to the Royal procession. You know that, Ursa."

"Mommy," Azula said, afraid. Mommy shushed her.

"It's going to be alright, Azula," Mommy said, warmly. "You're special. You have a gift. You're a firebender."

Azula jerked awake, trying to shake the dream away. She stood, walking to her basin and hurling a splash of water into her face. She breathed deep, trying to calm herself. To control herself. The dreams were back. Ever since Ba Sing Se, she'd been assaulted by them. Not on a nightly basis, but frequently enough that it gave her concern. She paused, pondering as she looked into the sloshing water. Not since Ba Sing Se. Since she returned home.

She mastered her hammering heart. The nightmares always left her like this. Feeling like she was suffocating, drenched in sweat. She moved back to her bed, sitting on the edge of it. She was seventeen years old. She shouldn't have been giving in to such figments, but they tormented her still. "Mother _never_ loved me," she said, angrily. Bitterly? She looked out at the chambers. They used to belong to Ursa. Now, they belonged to Azula. Good. Let that woman rot, wherever it was that she'd vanished. "Mother never cared about _me_. It was always about Zuko," she said. She knew it was the truth. But still, in the back of her mind, some tiny part of her asked... Is it?

Azula moved to the other side of the bed, unmussed by sweat and fear, and lay atop the covers, contemplating the fire, her truth, and the mother that hated her.

* * *

The storm overhead raged, pouring buckets of water down. It was so much that Katara couldn't have hoped to control it. It smashed down on them, and it was driving Sokka crazy. "We can't keep flying through this," he called out. It was almost lost in the deluge. "It's like we're back in the Earth Kingdom's monsoons. I'm landing!"

The storm had been a mixed blessing. While the clouds were overhead, it made traveling on Appa relatively safe; the sky bison was well known as Aang's steed, and it was hard to miss a ten tonne magical flying bison. On the other hand, the storm itself battered the travelers and the mount equally, and brutally. Aang was going to need to come up with a method of moving between islands during clearer weather. Appa just wasn't up to this kind of flying. They touched down on a hillside near a volcanic mountain, its sides sharp and steep. They all bounded off, landing on soggy ground.

Toph was the last one off, which was unfortunate, because she was probably going to be providing shelter. When she landed, instead of quickly stomping up an earth tent, she held her hand to the ground. "Twinkletoes, something ain't right here," she shouted against the storm. "The ground feels like mud. Like the whole thing's going to give way any minute!"

They all looked around. There was a stream running nearby. Well, it was supposed to be a stream, but right now, it raged like a river, moving down towards... a town. And above, Sokka could see a pond. "Flash flood!" Aang shouted. "We have to protect the village!"

"You don't need to tell me twice," Katara said. She stooped low, and began to bend upward, pulling the water out of the ground before the entire hillside gave way, dumping a torrent of water downward. Aang and Toph worked another element, pulling up the earth into a series of levies, which steered the water away. Sokka had his club out, and looked around.

"What do I do?" Sokka asked.

"Take care of Momo!" Katara shouted. Sokka wilted, then pet the lemur which hopped from Ty Lee's shoulder to his.

"There there," he said wanly.

Aang and Toph worked faster. Katara had given up trying to desiccate the ground, and instead opted to freeze the soil in place. It wouldn't last long. The rain falling was a hot rain, but it would hold briefly, at least. Aang surged upward, looking as the land began to slide up near the pond. A great torrent flowed. Katara moved first and fastest, skating over the saturated soil, and heaving, even as the last of Aang and Toph's levies rose into existence, dumping the water down another hill, following another path toward the sea, well away from the town below.

"Those'll hold until tomorrow," Toph said. She pounded the ground and heaved. A block of stone jutted up, covering the entire party, Appa included. A nice, secure little cave. The din went from deafening to merely distracting. Toph shook some of the water out of her clothes, then sat in the mud. "We'll have to remember to tear those down in the morning. I don't think many earthbenders live in these parts."

"Yeah," Sokka said, setting Momo on the floor of this new cave. "At least you got to do something to save those people. All I got to do was be a lemur-sitter."

"Ty Lee wasn't complaining," Katara pointed out, looking at Ty Lee. The acrobat was soaked, but still looked very content with herself.

"So this is how it's going to be?" Sokka said, walking to the back end of the cave. "From here until the Eclipse, us hiding out in cave, after cave, after cave..."

"No, silly," Ty Lee said. "That's why I brought along the other clothes!"

"What?" Sokka asked, gobsmacked again. She was good at gobsmacking him. That was one of the reasons he enjoyed her company so much. She pulled out a bunch of clothes, all in Fire Nation reds and blacks. Sokka eyed them suspiciously. Katara, though, grasped what the acrobat was on to.

"Of course. If we dress the part, we won't need to live in caves. It's better to blend in than hide out," she said, taking a red dress, and immediately beginning to disrobe. Aang let out a strangled yelp and turned away, and even Ty Lee looked a bit embarrassed. Sokka just rolled his eyes. Seeing family members naked was just part of South Water Tribe life. By the time Sokka and Katara left with Aang, they'd become totally inured to it, amongst other things. Toph of course was blind, and already wearing her Fire Nation garb, so she just picked at her toes with a stick. Sokka looked at what Ty Lee had picked out for him, dreading some sort of male doxie wear. Instead, he found a quite serviceable shirt and vest. And new pants. Glory be, he had new pants! He even had a new doodad for his hair.

"Do you all have to do this right here?" Aang asked, a bit skittish. Toph snorted a laugh.

"I don't see any changing rooms, Twinkletoes," she said. "Of course, this is why _I_ changed before we left."

"We were in kind of a hurry, Toph," Katara said. Sokka paused for a moment, glancing to Ty Lee. She was peeking! He smirked. Let her look. Once everybody had gotten into their new clothes, and assured the young monk that they were 'decent', he turned. Aang looked at Sokka with an approving nod.

"That looks a lot like the clothing I used to see when I came to the Fire Nation a century ago," he said. He frowned briefly. "Not a lot of pockets, though."

"They're on the inside," Sokka said, showing the pockets lining the inside of the vest. Then, Aang turned to Katara, and his jaw hit the floor, his face turning bright red. He didn't even look that flabbergasted when she was getting naked. He stared at Sokka's sister, in her fairly revealing red silk outfit. Much like Ty Lee, her midriff was exposed, and much of her legs as well. She was combing out her Water Tribe hairdo, and would likely have to take a local style. The whole affair had a profound effect on the airbender.

"Stop staring at my sister," Sokka said, annoyed. He gave Aang a light shove, which broke the hypnotic stare and got him shaking his head.

"Sorry, Sokka," Aang said. He looked around, laughing nervously. Then, he pounded out his hands, and a shell of stone leapt up to surround him. Katara and Sokka shook their heads.

"Prude," Sokka chuckled. He then leaned forward. "Katara... Mom's necklace."

"Oh," Katara removed the jewel sadly. "Definitely screams Water Tribe, doesn't it?"

"Guys, do we know where we are?" Ty Lee asked. She tried looking out, but the deluge made long sight almost impossible. "I know we've got to be in the Ember archipelago, but..."

"I can't say," Sokka said. "We landed here by dead reckoning," he shrugged, laying out his bedding on the mud, too tired and soaked to bother with the tent. "We can figure it out when the storm breaks."

Sokka flopped onto his bedding. A few moments later, the stone walls fell, and Aang stepped out of his 'changing room'. He now looked every inch of him a Fire Nation youth. Or at least, what Sokka imagined a Fire Nation youth would look like. He smirked with confidence. Katara moved closer. "Aang, your arrow," she said. He reached up, feeling the blue tattoo which was still visible on his brow. Katara handed him a headband. "You should wear this."

"I won't go out unless I can wear my arrow proudly!" Aang said. Toph scowled.

"Don't be a dumbass, Twinkletoes," she said. "You heard the lady say it was better to blend in than hide out."

Aang wilted a bit and accepted the headband, cinching it just under his hairline. It had a picture of some sort of white flower dyed into it. Aang would probably have to find something more appropriate at some point. The storm raged, and the last hopes for the world settled down, to wait out the weather. Sokka didn't need to wait long before he could feel Ty Lee snuggling up next to him. He dreamed, but they brought him little comfort.

* * *

Ty Lee looked around the village as she ate her breakfast. She still didn't have a clue where she was, which was annoying, because she grew up only a few islands away. For some reason, when she came back home, she thought she'd be happier. Instead, she was always looking over her shoulder, as though somebody was going to attack her. It was like she was walking around in enemy territory. Which was absurd. Sokka prodded at his fried sea-slug, but stared morosely at the town. He had waken up in that state.

"You know what I miss about all of this thrilling derring-do?" Toph asked. "The hero worship. People standing up and cheering your name. I miss the love."

"Right now, the love would get us all killed," Katara pointed out.

"Come on! You haven't touched your disgusting food thing," Ty Lee said. "And who's going to tell us where we are if you just stare out at the town like that?"

"I'm sorry. I've just got a lot on my mind," Sokka said. He shook his head. "Every time we go somewhere, it's always the same thing. Crisis, then some quick thinking, and then you all bend your bending and the problem goes away. But what do I do? I... I look after the lemur! I read maps! I can't do anything."

"Sokka, don't talk like that," Ty Lee said, moving to his side, her bowl of breakfast in hand. "It's not like I can bend, either," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but you're still ten times the warrior I'll ever be," Sokka bemoaned. "I mean, when you were on Azula's side, Katara was scared spitless of you."

"I was not!" Katara countered.

"I know you're lyyyying," Toph laughed.

"Look," Katara powered through, "you might not be some powerful bender, but you give us the direction we need," she pointed out at the town. "None of us have any idea where we are, but I know you do. And you come up with ideas and schemes that save the day all the time. Remember the drill?"

"I get it," Sokka said. "I appreciate you trying to make me feel better, but the fact is, you guys are all special and I'm... not. I'm just the tiny mortal standing amongst gods."

"You better believe it, Loverboy," Toph laughed.

"We don't think of you that way," Ty Lee said, giving him a hug. A tiny smile came to his face. It was nice. Katara went to Sokka's other side.

"I think I know something that'll cheer you up," Katara said. She broke into a grin. "Shopping!"

"Shopping?" both Sokka and Ty Lee asked at the same moment. Then both let out almost identical squeals of delight, leaping to their feet. The two embraced each other. "SHOPPING!"

"If it wasn't so sweet, it'd be creepy," Toph commented.

Ty Lee thought she was going to have to drag Sokka through the streets, looking at the various markets, but oddly, she found it was _she_ being dragged. Sokka was a very enthusiastic shopper. She knew there was a reason they got along so well together. Finally, they came to a weapons shop nestled into a small building. Sokka immediately brightened another peg. "Yes! A new weapon! That might reinvigorate my battling!" he declared.

Ty Lee watched as he flit around the store. He picked up a pair of nunchucks, and she leaned over to Aang. "Silver says he smacks himself in the head," she said. Aang nodded. Not ten seconds later, Sokka's twirling of the flails went just wrong and he brained himself. Aang sighed and handed over a silver piece. Rubbing his head, Sokka moved on to other weapons, while the proprietor slept in a chair near the back.

Sokka tried out a number of weapons. A naginata, he twirled around before accidentally embedding it into a wooden beam. When he couldn't extricate it, he left it there, walking away whistling. Experimenting with a Meteor Hammer bound Sokka head to foot in cord. Twin dao just looked ridiculous. But not half as ridiculous as when Ty Lee turned, and saw Aang in an immensely oversized suit of armor which probably harken back to the days of Avatar Kuruk. It was all flashy metal and spikes, and surrounded the Avatar such that he looked barely able to move.

"And what are you doing in that?" Katara asked, trying to hold in laughter.

"Pretty slick, huh?" he said, a grin on his face. "Let's see somebody fire lightning at me now!" Katara shook her head, then lightly pushed on Aang. The Avatar tipped backward, unable to balance himself, and crashed to the floor. "Alright," Aang admitted. "Maybe I need something a bit more minimalistic."

Sokka had given up on most of the weapons, and instead, had fixated on a fine sword on the desk in front of the somehow still sleeping store owner. Ty Lee joined him. Her eyes widened when she recognized who made it. "Wow!" she said. "That's one of Piandao's swords!"

"You can recognize it just by looking at it?" Katara asked.

"It's got his mark on it," she pointed out the white flower on the handle. Aang walked over, still wearing that silly helmet, even if the rest of the armor was abandoned.

"I think that's what you need, Sokka," Aang said.

"A sword?"

"No, a master," Aang said. "This guy has skills which you could use. He taught both Ty Lee and, regrettably, Zuko... and we already know that he's willing to help us."

"I think Aang's right. I wouldn't have come anywhere close to where I am if it wasn't for Master Pakku," Katara said.

"I learned from badgermoles," Toph said with a shrug. "They don't talk much, but they were still great teachers."

"Much?" Katara asked.

"It _would_ be nice to be a master swordsman," Sokka said, pondering. He suddenly smirked. "I guess it's a good thing we landed on Chuo Yan."

"We're on Chuo Yan?" Ty Lee asked. "Piandao has a summer house here! How long did you know?"

"When we woke up," Sokka said idly. A grin went back onto his face. "Care to join me while I train with the master?"

Ty Lee beamed. She was going to see Piandao again. Then, a suspicious look came back to her. "Wait a minute. Why did you come to Chuo Yan first? There's plenty of other islands..."

"We were always going to go to Piandao first," Katara said. She looked at Sokka. "What, you didn't tell her?"

"I thought she knew!" Sokka answered. Ty Lee just scowled at him, leaving him rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably. But then, she brightened again. She didn't really care why. She was going to see an old friend again! That was always reason to be happy.

* * *

Aang watched as Ty Lee fidgeted uncomfortably in front of the door. She'd already knocked, but she was impatient. In a way, she reminded Aang of himself, albeit himself three years ago. When her patience, short though it was, was exhausted, she began to bang both knockers in rhythm, trying to make up for in volume what she lacked in restraint. Finally, one of the doors swung inward, showing a balding, rotund man with liverspots on his head staring apathetically at them.

"Yes?" he asked blandly. Ty Lee launched herself at him.

"FAT!" she screamed, hugging him. She hugged everybody, it seemed, even the people she appeared to be insulting. "Is Piandao in? Did he come back early? What about his house in Grand Ember? How's your son? Did you lose weight?"

Fat just stared at her through her deluge of questions. "I'll inform the master that you are here," he said flatly, before turning and walking into the building. Sokka turned, giving everybody else a shrug, and entered the building. The mansion was quite open, with very few symbols of wealth or influence. Aang liked it. It was calm and serene, quite unlike some of the other, cluttered mansions he'd been in before. The Beifong household jumped to mind immediately. The butler showed the group to a room which overlooked the ocean, its wide windows open to the salty breeze.

Piandao knelt a calligraphy desk before him, and calmly worked his art. Without looking back, nor waiting for the butler to announce them, he spoke. "You are all well behind schedule." Ty Lee's eyes shined, and she looked about to surge forward for another of her signature greeting hugs, but the butler caught her shoulder and shook his head. She wilted a bit. Piandao cast a glance over his shoulder. "But the Avatar is on his feet. That is an encouraging sign."

"What? Who's the Avatar? Not me, I mean... The Avatar's dead!" Aang said, weakly. The butler's eyes rolled.

"Fat is a trusted and discrete servant," Piandao said. He finally set his brush down and rose, pulling his sword around him, reaching his impressive height. "I was told by a mutual friend to await your appearance, to give you shelter and council. It is my honor, Avatar," he bowed lightly.

Sokka stepped forward, lowering himself to his knees before Piandao. "Master Piandao, I wish to ask if you would train me in the ways of the sword," he said, bowing low. Piandao's eyebrow rose.

"I almost never accept students," Piandao said. "If you believe yourself capable of learning the lessons I have to teach, you must consider yourself quite worthy."

Sokka shook his head. "To be honest, I don't think I am. But I still need to learn, and when I do, I would prefer it be from the best."

Piandao leaned on his sword. "I don't even understand why you feel that need. A waterbender needs no weapons but those that the world provides him, and I am ill equipped to train one in the elemental martial arts."

Everybody leaned back as one, even Sokka. "Um," Sokka said, confused. "I'm not a waterbender."

Piandao looked a bit confused. "He's really not," Katara said.

"Couldn't bend a puddle," Aang chimed in.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Sokka muttered. Piandao ran a thumb along his short beard, pondering. He turned, facing the water briefly, before moving to stand before Sokka. He held his sword down, hilt toward the Tribesman.

"Then you should begin training immediately," Piandao said. "A guardian of the Avatar must have nothing less then utter mastery of his chosen abilities," the master turned to the butler. "Fat, take my desk outside. The day will be hot, and a breeze will do us well."

"Writing desk?" Sokka asked.

"The sword is taught through many lessons. Some less obvious than others. Come. If you would master the sword, first, you must master... the brush."

Fat set to work packing the desk and moving it outside. Aang glanced around, then raised his hand. "Um, what are we supposed to do?" Aang asked.

"Rest," Piandao said. "Your most difficult tasks are ahead of you. You may use my study at your leisure."

"Oh, great. Books to read," Katara said. She still couldn't read Huojian.

"Don't feel bad, Sweetness, I can't read _at all_," Toph remarked as they walked away. Aang considered staying with Sokka, but he knew that he'd slept in the mud, and this was a good chance to catch up on some well deserved, and dry, rest.

* * *

Piandao watched as Fat set up the desk on the patio that overlooked the sea. He much preferred his hillside manor, but this one was far closer to the edges of the Nation, and much less attention would be garnered here. He could see young Ty Lee trying desperately to stay composed, but he knew it was just a matter of time before she needed to do something drastic. "Come here," he said, opening one arm. She took that as her permission to launch into his side, a crushing hug that she showed to almost all people she came across. She was a loving soul.

"It is good to see that you have finally joined the correct side," Piandao said. Ty Lee looked confused, then a bit angry.

"Azula needs my help, too. It's just that they need it more right now," she turned away from him, as though surly. She was not a surly woman. "Somewhere out there is the happy ending where everybody gets what they need and everybody lives. Azula too. She just needs someone to show her the way."

"You could take her by the hand, but she would not necessarily learn," Piandao pointed out. "Sometimes, people must be guided to the path, but that does not teach them to walk it. Your faith in your friend is laudable, but do not let it blind you. There are some doors that we walk through in life that cannot be recrossed."

"You always say the wisest stuff," Ty Lee said. Piandao stood before the desk, and motioned at the Tribesman to pick up the brush. Sokka did, but he held it like he was going to stab somebody with it. Piandao shook his head.

"I don't understand what this has to do with swordsmanship," Sokka complained.

"The art of calligraphy is about stamping your identity onto the paper, much the way that the sword stamps your identity onto the battlefield. Now, show the world who you are," Piandao explained. Sokka reached forward with the brush, almost hastily. "But be very careful. Much the same as you cannot take back a cut of the sword, you cannot take back a line on the page."

Sokka paused, sitting back and rolling the brush along his fingers. Ty Lee leaned close. "Um, Sokka? You're getting ink on your fingers," she pointed out. Sokka scowled at his now inky hands, but his gaze popped back up. A smirk came to his face, and he set the brush aside, flattening his hand into the ink well and then pressing it hard onto the paper, fingers flared. He stood, holding the page up, with its black handprint upon it.

"You said it was about stamping my identity onto the page, right? Well, find somebody else with a hand print like this!" Sokka said proudly. Piandao considered. A novel solution. Not one that he would have considered. Interesting.

"I see," Piandao said. "Perhaps calligraphy is not your strong suit. Another art might be more to your aptitude," he turned. "Fat, please prepare the table. We are going into the hills."

"Yes, master," Fat said flatly. He was a stoic one, Fat. And a valued retainer.

Sokka looked a little bit uncertain, but Piandao dismissed him, and he wandered away, washing the ink off of his hand. Ty Lee remained behind. "I didn't know when I should ask," she said. Piandao gave a small smile.

"Of course, I have finished it," he said, walking around the curve of the house to where the evening winds hit the west wall. He'd had his forges installed here so that in the evenings, when he did his work, it would be somewhat cooler. He slid aside a panel and pulled out a staff, wrought all in shining steel. It was extremely light for its size, and bore little in the way of decoration. He had built it to her specifications. "It was not an easy project. There were intricacies to the design which a Mechanist might have been better able to incorporate, but I think you'll find them suitable."

Ty Lee took the staff with the singularly most thankful look Piandao had ever seen in his life. She was an expressive girl. She began to spin and whirl with it. She paused, then twisted near the center of the staff. The staff parted into two shorter lengths, which she began to twirl and swing with as well. And as fast as it came apart, she snapped it back together. She grinned up at him. "It's exactly what I wanted!" she said. She suddenly looked concerned. "But... I don't know if I can afford it. I know how much your work is worth, and..."

"I realize your current financial situation," Piandao said, laying a hand on her shoulder and smiling. "Consider this a part of your training."

"I thought you were done with me?" she asked.

"It is never too late to learn something important. You haven't tested all of your staff's capabilities," Piandao pointed out.

"You made them. I trust they'll work," she said. And she bounced away, quite happy with herself. If only everybody could be as satisfied as that young woman. A world of Ty Lees would never go to war with anybody. Fat's footsteps pulled Piandao's attention away.

"We are prepared, master," he said.

"Good. Tell Sokka to follow us up into the hills."

* * *

Zuko walked down the hallways of Mai's house. They were spartan and drab. She'd had them repainted to suit her tastes, rather than her parents'. He had to say, he preferred it less garish. She was walking next to him, holding his arm lightly, as they went to her chambers. There were servants who moved around, but they were few, and petitioners, even fewer. Mai called it one of the perks of being part of a minor house. "So, what do you have planned for this evening?" Zuko asked. "Dinner at the overlook, maybe?"

"I've been to the overlook," Mai said, her tones very even. It took a lot of attention to tell when she was bored, amused, or angry. And it was _very important_ to tell those states apart with perfect accuracy. "I was thinking of staying in."

Zuko smiled a bit, sliding the door open for her. A servant was waiting, sitting in a low chair in the corner. Zuko frowned. It must be some Azuli thing. She moved inside, sitting on a couch, staring out at the noon-time sky. "Well, I am the Fire Nation's Prince," Zuko said. "Anything you want, and I can get it for you."

Mai turned, looking at the servant a moment. "You know what I'd like?" she asked, her tones becoming bored. Maybe. It wasn't easy to judge. "A fruit tart. With rose petals on it."

Zuko turned to her servant. "You heard your mistress. Make haste, young woman," he said. The woman bowed, and left. He turned, and he saw that Mai had rolled up her sleeves. Her knives and flechette launchers were nowhere to be seen. His eyes grew wide. "Tell me, my lady," he said, moving to the couch. "You wouldn't happen to be unarmed in the presence of the Prince, would you?"

"If I was, wouldn't it be scandalous?" Mai answered, just the barest hint of a smile on her face. Zuko knew where this was going. When an Azuli woman went unarmed, it was the equivalent of a woman walking around naked under a robe. She had _something_ on her mind. And Zuko couldn't be more pleased about it. He leaned in, drinking that kiss and feeling her push him down against the arm of the chair. She was just settling atop him when a loud rapping came at the door. Silver eyes and gold turned, and Zuko had to use every ounce of self control in his body not to shout out in annoyance. Azula was here, watching them with a smirk.

"You two are utterly incorrigible," Azula said. "How scandalous, in the middle of the day, even. What would _Mother_ say?" she invested that word with a great deal of venom.

"What do you want, Azula?" Zuko asked, standing erect, and a bit uncomfortable being interrupted. She walked past him, out onto the balcony which overlooked the plaza. He looked back at Mai, who just gave a shrug and a dismissing gesture. He followed his sister. "I know you didn't just do this to be annoying. You value _Mai's_ friendship that much, at least."

"I've heard that you've been talking to your doddering old Uncle," Azula said quietly. "You should be more careful, dum-dum, or somebody might begin to suspect that you're conspiring with him. And considering the precarious state of your own existence in the Capital City, you can't afford to have any scandals following you around. Beyond the more... mundane... ones."

"And why are you even telling me this? What do you have to gain?" Zuko asked.

"What? Can I not simply have my brother's best interests at heart?" she asked, innocently.

"Historically, no. Theoretically... I'm going to have to stick with no," Zuko said. Azula shook her head, and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Just be careful. Father may trust you now, but his attentions carry a heavy price. Maybe... for once, I'm just looking out for you," she said. For just an instant, she sounded nothing like the Azula Zuko had come to know. In fact, she almost sounded like a caring, teenage sister. But as quickly as that moment came, it was gone. "And besides, If you persist, _I'll_ be the one sent to bring you down, and that would impinge upon my social calendar."

Azula walked away, leaving Zuko to mutter: "You have a social calendar?" to her back. When she left, closing the door, Zuko moved back into the room. Mai moved close again. He shook his head. "I'm sorry," he said. "Something else is on my mind."

Mai stared at him. "You know, you're very lucky that I'm not armed right now, because if I was, I'd probably stab you," she said, definitely annoyed.

Zuko couldn't help but smile at that.

* * *

Aang watched as Piandao returned from the hills with Sokka. Sokka looked a bit perturbed, while Piandao remained unflappable. He hopped over to Sokka's side, bringing a glance from Piandao, if nothing else. "So, how was the landscape painting?" Aang asked. Sokka silently handed over the picture he'd drawn. It was was a shining example of Sokka's artistic talent, which was to say, it was utterly terrible. "I...uh... like the rainbow," Aang offered. Sokka just hung his head.

"Next, I think some botany is in order," Piandao said, reaching into a small shed on the path and pulling out a pair of pruning shears. "Botany, the cultivation of living plants, teaches us that in order have the environment serve our purposes, we must sometimes serve its. So, Sokka, your next task will be to find what advantage there is to be had in this copse."

Sokka sighed, nodding and taking the shears. He wandered off into the woods. Aang looked at Piandao. "Aren't you going to watch him?"

"I am beginning to suspect that for Sokka, the methods are never so important as the results," Piandao said. He moved to a rock and sat, resting his sword across his knees. "You are a different person than last we met, young Avatar."

"Yeah," Aang admitted, running his hand through his hair. It was a habit which replaced his previous one of rubbing the back of his head. Hair tended to get in the way. "A lot has happened in the last year."

"You have doubts that you can succeed," Piandao said, cutting to the heart of the matter. Was he a mind-reader as well as a master of... a lot of things? "I know that look. It is the look of a weary soldier, too long on the battlefield. A man who knows he's surrounded and outnumbered, yet cannot afford to lay down his arms. They say there is nothing more dangerous than a cornered badgermole. Is that the case?"

Aang shook his head. "I was in the Avatar State and she still beat me," he said quietly. "I was as powerful as I could possibly be, and she put me down like I was nothing."

"You speak of the Princess? She is a dangerous young woman, and not for her firebending alone. A firebender is a person, usually with a connection to the primordial flame that burns in this world. But Azula... she is a weapon. A weapon utilized by a hand not her own, and without her even realizing it. In a way, I pity her."

"You've given a lot of thought to that," Aang said. It was the truth. The last time he heard somebody talking about an enemy that way was... "You sound almost exactly like Monk Gyatso," Aang tilted his head. "Did you know any airbenders?"

"The Purge happened long before my time," Piandao said. "I might be old, but I'm not that old," the master shook his head. "I didn't know any. The last died not long after I was born. I never really knew my grandfather."

"What does your grandfather have to do with this?" Aang asked.

"The Purge didn't wipe out all airbenders, nor all Air Nomads. Many, who were away from the temples, survived, went into hiding. My grandfather was young when the Purge happened. He was barely an Air Nomad, let alone an airbender, hiding after his home in the Western Air Temple was burned out. He took a new name, and lived a normal life, but passed on his teachings in secret. I don't doubt that there are a number of families that still carry the teachings of the Air Nomads, if fragmented to the point where they are almost meaningless. No airbenders could come from such an upbringing, I think, or I would have heard of it," Piandao paused, pulling his blade just a bit and staring at its shining white metal. "I still would have liked to have known the man Kuzon was."

Aang's eyes went wide. He knew the way destiny played fast and loose with Avatars. He didn't doubt for a second which Kuzon Piandao was talking about. Kuzon, Aang's once best friend in the West Continent, was Piandao's grandfather. No wonder he felt tried to make Ty Lee into an airbender. It was in Piandao's blood. Before Aang could say anything, though, Piandao rose, and began to walk through the forest, following a trail that only he could see. Aang followed Piandao.

When they came out of the forest, they were in Piandao's garden, which Sokka had thoroughly diced up and made himself a comfortable mattress of palm fronds, using a melon as a pillow. "I think I understand what you were talking about!" Sokka said, lazing about, his head on a melon. Fat opened the door, and his apathetic visage turned into one of abject horror. "Do you think I could get a cold drink?"

"Master, he...!" Fat said.

"I'll have one with a slice of lemon," Piandao said. Fat stoically went back into the building. "I see a pattern emerging," he added, pitched low enough that only Aang could hear it. He moved to Sokka and gave him a significant glance until the boy stood. "I think it is time to begin with more... conventional methods of training."

* * *

The morning was very young, and Zuko was at the docks, far away from the palatial estates which rest in the caldera of Sozin City, a long dead volcano. He had his hood up, and he waited. He couldn't afford to put this off any longer. He knew what it was to take a life. Unpleasant. It wasn't something he liked to think about, but what choice did he have? His acceptance here was hanging by a thread, a thread named Aang. He couldn't just let that sword dangle above his head. He pondered a moment. He _really_ wasn't very good with metaphors.

A pounding of metal sounded, bringing Zuko's attention to its source. For some reason, it was a familiar sound, but he couldn't place it. Two men came into view. One was enormous, clad in a flaxen shirt, with a metal arm and leg, and bearing a flaming eye tattooed onto his forehead. The other was not quite as tall, which was to say, still overtopping Zuko by a fair margin, but much more slender. He wore a broad hat, and his skin was as black as Hui chocolate.

"Are you the ones I was told about?" Zuko asked. The giant just stared, a burning intensity in his eyes. Zuko heard whispers about that one's brutally effective firebending discipline, one that cost him that arm and leg. The other, though, was a complete unknown to Zuko, but his bare feet raised the possibility that he was an earthbender.

"We are," the dark man answered. "If the price is right."

"I hear you're very good at what you do," Zuko said quietly. "And even better at keeping secrets," he pulled out a bag of money. "The Avatar is alive. I want you to find him, and end him."

"The Avatar? That demands a high price," the dark man pointed out. Zuko tied a knot in his rage, lest it get away from him.

"Name it," Zuko said. "Anything."

"Five thousand, and one other thing," the dark man said. He pulled out a long scroll from his pack, and swiped a piece of charcoal along the surface of it. He then handed it over. It was a wanted poster for some sightless earthbender girl. With a heavy bounty, wanted dead or alive. The stranger had crossed out the 'dead' part. Zuko looked at him. "I'm the only one who gets to kill her. Gahj Muul, and nobody else."

Zuko looked at the poster, then set it ablaze in his hand. "Done," Zuko said. The price was almost too reasonable, but when people were motivated by revenge, they didn't tend to be rational. The two men left, and Zuko went back toward his home. The things he did for destiny.

* * *

"Blagh. I'm so hot," Toph said, laying on her back in the middle of the front courtyard, wearing only the slimmest vestiges of her usual costume.

"You think your hot?" Katara muttered, laying on her back next to her. If she'd been wearing much less, she'd be naked. "I grew up in a place where you could freeze to death in front of a fire. Are you sure this isn't summer?"

"It gets hotter," Aang said, laying on his back, without having the luxury of taking off his shirt or pants. His tattoos were too obvious.

"I like it!" Ty Lee said, also laying on her back, but she wasn't sweating nearly as much.

"That's because you're in the breeze," Toph said. "Which sucks, because I'm closer to the water. How come you get the breeze?"

"Maybe I'm just lucky," Ty Lee said happily.

"It's sooooo hot," Katara said. Aang felt a smile pull at his face.

"How hot is it, Katara?"

"Really hot," Toph muttered. Katara seemed to grasp what he was getting at.

"It's so hot that... um... Momo is shedding like Appa!" she said, pulling some hair off of the lemur, who was also lying on its back in the middle of them. Momo did not look pleased, but was too hot to protest.

"Yeah, the jokes really don't run in your family, do they?" Toph muttered.

"Appa sheds?" Ty Lee asked.

* * *

Sokka faced off against Fat again. Despite the man's advanced age and corpulent build, he was a surprisingly good swordsman, and had no few tricks up his sleeve. It was probably because he was the sparring partner of Piandao, and in order to keep up, he had to be very, very good. Sokka watched Fat as he went through his stances, waiting for that moment to strike. There, he saw it. He leapt forward, his wooden training sword cracking hard against Fat's, but Fat twisted and stepped, and with a heave, threw Sokka off balance and into his back. Sokka groaned, then picked himself up.

"You need to be wary of larger opponents," Piandao said, drinking chilled tea with a lemon slice. It was a lovely drink. Sokka would have to export it when he left this entirely-too-hot place. "They can use their mass to maneuver in ways that faster, but lighter, opponents could not."

"Right. Like that's going to come up often," Sokka muttered.

"You may not believe so, but to be a true master of your armament, you must be prepared for all eventualities, have contingencies in place for any assault."

"Or I could just improvise," Sokka pointed out. Piandao sighed.

"Perhaps that is enough for today. Fat, see to preparing dinner," Fat bowed and walked away. Piandao descended and stood next to Sokka, staring up into the hills. Sokka shook his head.

"I'm sorry. I know I'm not doing very well at this."

"Quite the contrary," Piandao said. "You're doing better than I would have ever expected."

"Then your expectations must have been very low," Sokka said. "I've screwed up just about every task you had for me... except for blacksmithing, but I already knew how to do that!"

"You 'screwed things up' in a very particular way," Piandao said. "You tackled every scenario I devised in a manner which I would have never considered possible, let alone plausible. You have an unpredictable nature and a flair for making the absurd not just possible, but successful, which mark you as a master in the making. I believe it is time for you to have your own sword. Come with me."

Sokka followed Piandao to the west side of his house. He waved his hand, showcasing a wall of finely crafted swords and spears of every description. Sokka ran his fingers over them, feeling the weight of them in his hands. "You're really going to let me have one?" Sokka asked.

"Yes," Piandao said. "I could entrust the life of the Avatar to nothing less than that."

"I think I'm going to need some time," Sokka said. The array of weapons was dizzying. Piandao nodded.

"I will await your decision in the morning," Piandao said, before walking away. Sokka hefted swords in turn, but his eyes went back to one in particular, resting on a rack in the back of the forge. He picked it up. It was light. It felt perfect in his hand. Beyond perfection, it felt like it was an extension of his hand. A very sharp extension, of course. Its blade was black as night. He did a few experimental swings, and accidentally struck the anvil. The blade cleaved straight through it. Sokka's eyes went wide.

"Oh, I've _got_ to have this one," he said.

* * *

Toph frowned, staring at the odd depression in the earth. Well, staring as much as she could, anyway. "Does that look weird to you?" she asked. Katara, walking next to her, shook her head.

"It just looks like every other dip between hills," Katara mumbled. In the wee hours, the heat gave way, but Sweetness wasn't one who dealt well with lack of sleep. Toph shook her head.

"It's not a valley. It's a crater," Toph said. Her earth sounding never steered her wrong before. She could feel the unique shape bouncing surging back to her. "Something landed here a few years ago. Must have been one hell of a boom," Toph moved to the center of that crater, and then laid one scarred hand to the ground. "There's a chunk of metal down there," she said. She focused for a moment, and it came rumbling to the surface. It was a block not much larger than her fist. "It's not like any metal I've ever felt before. Hey, do you figure this was some meteor or something?"

"It's just a dirty rock to me," Katara said. Jeez, couldn't she be supportive for just one hour? Toph tried earthbending on it, but that didn't work of course, so she transitioned to metalbending. The thing came alive in her hands, flaring between the shapes she wanted it to take with almost no effort at all.

"Sweeeet." Toph said, turning it into a chain necklace and pulling it over her head.

* * *

Iroh ate like an animal, snarfing the food from the floor where Warden Poon had cast it down. "Look at you," Poon said, the disdain dripping from every syllable. "You used to be the Dragon of the West, the pride of the Fire Nation. Now you're just a broken, crazy old idiot. You're barely even human."

Poon spat, and Iroh felt it landing on his head, but he kept eating. Poon turned and walked away, slamming the door behind him. Once he was well away, Iroh stopped. He wiped the spittle from his head with a tattered sleeve, and finished his meal with more proper dignity. He still couldn't believe what his nephew had done in Ba Sing Se. Even though he had had plenty of time to mull it over. In fact, he realized he was partly to blame for it. He asked what Zuko wanted above all else, and Zuko had told him. To go home. This was his way to go home.

Iroh sighed. Zuko had made his choice. If he came to regret it, Iroh had nowhere else to be. Not for a while, anyway. His gaze lifted to the narrow, fortified window. But he had duties he needed to perform. People depended on him, even if they didn't realize it yet. And he would have to be strong, for them as well as Zuko. He finished his dinner, then raised himself up, grabbing the bars overhead. And he began to haul himself upward, fighting his own weight, over and over again. His pool of chi was wide, but shallow. He needed deeper breath, a stronger core. He needed strength, for what he was going to do. And he had just enough time to earn it back.

* * *

Sokka walked up to Piandao, who was meditating in the back porch. The rest had been still asleep, but Sokka hadn't been able to sleep at all. He was still filled with that nervous energy, that expectation. He knelt behind Piandao, and waited. He knew Piandao had seen him, and wasn't about to embarrass himself needlessly repeating a lesson he'd already learned.

"You have made your choice?" Piandao asked. He turned, facing Sokka.

"I have," Sokka held up the blade. Piandao's expression curdled to one of outrage.

"That sword is my finest work," Piandao said, rising to snatch it away. Sokka backpeddled. "It was forged from metal which fell from the heavens themselves, a blade the likes of which the world has never seen. You wish me to part with the most unique and irreplaceable specimen that I have ever produced?"

"You said I could have any blade I chose," Sokka said, backing away from Piandao. "I choose this one."

"It is not available to you," Piandao stressed. Sokka's outrage began to surge, warring against the master's.

"What, so this was all some sort of trick? Your greatest sword isn't allowed to protect the Avatar, but something from your reject barrel is?" Sokka asked. Piandao's eye twitched at that.

"Any soldier in the world would beg to wield one of my _rejects_," Piandao said. His eyes narrowed. "Very well, Sokka of the South Water Tribe, guardian of the Avatar. If you wish to have the Blade of the Heavens, then prove you are worthy of it!"

Then, Piandao charged, his white blade out before him. Sokka had to block with the blade still in its scabbard, and twist away. Piandao followed, his blade always inches from Sokka, a hair from splitting him open. It wasn't until Sokka dived off the deck and rolled in the sand that he got a chance to get his weapon clear of its sheath. Piandao landed in the sand nearby. "_Reacting_ to your enemies attacks can put you into a hazardous position, especially when they have more experience with it," Piandao said, as he moved through the sands toward Sokka. Sokka understood what Piandao was saying, as his own footwork wasn't at its best in the shifting grit. He parried a few of the blows away, then dove past Piandao, trying to get away from the beach, back to more solid footing. As Sokka leapt, he felt a line of pain along his side. Piandao had actually cut him!

"I thought this was," Sokka began, but had to break off when Piandao continued to press the attack. The old man was going to kill him! Sokka continued to retreat, and entered the lower door, which lead into the pantry. He turned, hurling detritus onto the floor as he retreated. Piandao came into his pantry, and found it trapped.

"Very good. Creating hazards to keep your _opponent_ in disadvantageous positions," Piandao said. He lunged forward, through the mess, and Sokka parried the sword aside, slamming the door behind him. He turned, and saw everybody eating breakfast around the table. Food had halted half way into mouths, and everybody stared at him. He let out a nervous laugh.

"What are you..." Katara began, but Sokka had to dive away as the slender white blade slammed through the door. Sokka leapt up onto the table, holding his black blade before him. Piandao pulled out his own long, double edged sword and stepped into the room. Everybody except Ty Lee leapt up into a fighting stance, but Sokka waved them back.

"No!" he said. "This is my fight."

Ty Lee looked between them, then realization dawned on her face. "Ooooh," she said. She smiled at Sokka. "Good luck!"

"Utilizing the high ground, a sound strategy," Piandao said, then he moved forward, slashing at Sokka's legs with his wickedly sharp sword. Sokka continued to fall back, until he was at the edge of the table. He swiped just ahead of his own toes, then leapt backward. He kicked the table up and at Piandao, hurling not just the food but Aang's breakfast at him as well. He had to cut it out of the air, but it gave Sokka a moment.

Sokka dodged through a door, slamming it behind him and tipping a chest of drawers in front of it. He turned, then slammed shut another door, before ducking through a third, leaving it open a crack. The white blade slashed through the door, cutting the drawers away. Piandao then burst into the room, a wide, arcing swing as he landed. He glanced around, and spotted the closed door. He kicked it open, his blade well away from Sokka. Sokka slipped out and swung his blade at Piandao's shoulder, trying to hamper without really harming the sword master. But by some miracle, Piandao twisted his sword back, parrying Sokka's attack. "A false ambush played falsely, a cunning strategy."

"Is this really the time to be giving a lesson?" Sokka asked. He dodged low, then rolled between Piandao's long legs, vaulting into the room beyond.

"Using superior agility against an older opponent," Piandao continued, turning to face Sokka. "Smart move."

Sokka backed away, glancing to his side. When he saw his pack, he quickly kicked it up to his left hand. It was damned lucky that he was ambidextrous. He grasped what he needed quickly, then hurled the sack aside before Piandao cut it in half. That would be bad: he still hadn't paid for it from when he stole it in Burning Rock. Sokka feinted forward, then dodged out a window, landing amongst the bamboo that ran along the east side of the house. As he ran, he began to slice the stalks, making them slowly fall behind him. He watched as Piandao advanced, an implacable man, slashing the falling bamboo away from himself as he moved.

Sokka then burst into a sprint, grabbing a stand of bamboo as he ran, and letting it twist back into Piandao's face. Piandao of course slashed it away before it struck. "Using the environment against me. You grasped my lessons well."

Sokka kept moving, but he had to stop suddenly, or else fall off a steep drop back to the beach. He looked back. Not any good options. Piandao was advancing, so he hopped down the steep incline and slid back to the sand. This time, he was ready. Piandao leapt down, nimbly navigating the incline, and slashing forward at Sokka. Sokka deflected the blade low, then brought his other hand up. In his hand, the mechanical pen he and the Mechanist invented. A pen which held its own internal reservoir of ink, fed by a pump. A pump he released. The jet of ink squirted out and splashed into Piandao's eyes. Piandao made a blind splash, but quickly pulled himself back into a stance. "Very resourceful," Piandao said, even through the pain that must come with having ink in his eyes.

Sokka waited, calming his breath. Piandao hinked his ear to the side, listening for him. Sokka glanced, knowing he couldn't get back to the grass without alerting him. But the sand was muffling his steps, and Sokka, despite what others thought, was very good at hunting things. Sokka crept to one side, his eyes scanning the sand. There. A shell. He silently pulled it up, then chucked it to one side. The paff of the shell hitting the sand drew Piandao's attention, and he struck at that spot, well away from Sokka. Sokka moved quickly, and when Piandao's blade was in its most tenuous state, Sokka smashed at it, causing it to spring from the master's grasp. Sokka laid the Space Sword on Piandao's shoulder. Piandao turned his head, as though glancing over his shoulder. There was a small smile on his face.

"I am impressed," Piandao said. He began to wipe the ink from his eyes. "You have certainly earned that sword." When Piandao had his eyes back, he turned, and retrieved his own blade. Fat, standing above, tossed his sheath down to him, and Piandao scabbarded his blade without even looking toward the falling sheath. "When you came here, you were in doubt. I dare say you were even down on yourself. But I had already seen something in you, something as strong as a lion turtle and twice as big, a heart which cried out for justice and peace. What you lacked in skills... and it was a lot," Sokka scowled, "you more than made up for in creativity, versatility, and intelligence. I believe that one day, you will be a swordsman even greater than I. And you have earned the right to my finest blade. Use it well, Sokka. If in your travels you encounter the gods, then strike at them, and they will be cut."

"Thank you, Master Piandao," Sokka said, bowing. He looked up. Everybody was staring down at him. Ty Lee looked especially proud.

"Fat will provide you with the maps of the Ember prefectures as I promised," Piandao said. "You will need to train on your own now, Sokka. Be the master that I know you are capable of."

"I will, Master," Sokka said. Piandao extended a hand, and Sokka grasped it. When Piandao turned, there was still something in Sokka's palm. A Pai Sho tile. The white lotus. What did that mean? The others navigated down to him, beaming proudly.

"I didn't think you had it in ya, Loverboy," Toph said. She reached up and grasped her strange, black necklace. Sokka was surprised. It was of the same stuff as his sword. "Check it out! I found some space metal to play around with."

"I've got more," Sokka said. Ty Lee laughed with him. Toph shook her head with a smirk.

"It's not what ya got, it's what ya do with it," Toph said, slugging Sokka's arm.

* * *

_By all means, leave a review. If I don't know what I'm screwing up, I can't fix it._


	3. Fire Academy

**Because of the rate at which this story goes up, the review based questions can feasibly be answered... for the moment. I'll do so at the end of a chapter.**

**Somethig I really should have included earlier was the concept of ethnic groups in the Fire Nation. While the West Continent is currently a unified force waging war with the world, it was not always so, and that unity is a lot more tenuous than it would appear. There are a number of ethnic groups throughout the world; the Whalesh are an offshoot of the South Water Tribe, albeit one which has strayed quite far in the last few thousand years, because it's the only place that can produce natural blondes and redheads. In the Earth Kingdoms, ignoring the obvious ones like the Si Wong, a general tendency is to have hair and coloration become darker as one moves north across the continent. **

**The Fire Nation has four primary ethnic groups. Ty Lee is a typical Embiar; darker complected, dark eyed, hardy, but she doesn't act like one. Season 1 Zuko acted more Embiar than she does, very hide-bound and honor-driven. Ember being the archipelago stretching toward the East Continent, it's fairly arid, so breeds hardy people. Azul, on the other hand, is on the west side of the Fire Nation. Mai appears like a standard Azuli, very pale complection, very light eyes, but she doesn't act like one, either. A typical Azuli tends to be as hot-headed and expressive as Wang Fire. And don't mess with Azuli women. The can and will cut you. The Duan were the central people, wedged in between these two groups, tending towards amber or hazel eyes. The Royal Family is descended from the Hui peoples, the pale, golden eyed, dark haired peoples who left the eponymous jungle to the north quite a whil back. The Hui mixed with the Duan, forming a group now called the Sozu. Without a war to unite them, the Embiar fought the Azuli, the Azuli fought the Sozu, and the Sozu blamed everybody for its problems. Burning Rock, a Fire Nation city inside the Earth Kingdoms, flouts all guidelines and standards.**

**On a personal note, I thought the Headband was stupid, operating from some fundamental flaws in logic. My opinion is only that, so I did something a bit more tasteful to my mind. Well, you'll see.**

_

* * *

_

_Aang lay, still and silent against the night. He had been like that for many weeks, now. Some were beginning to wonder if he'd ever wake up at all. Toph didn't question it for a second. She knew people like Twinkletoes didn't die easy, or quietly. The thought brought a smirk to her face. She didn't intend to, either. People more or less ignored her as she gathered up her hair. Considering her usual style was now plastered the length and breadth of the Fire Nation, she had to come up with something new. Something compact, that wouldn't get burned off the first time she had an army of firebenders breathing down her neck._

_"There are too many unknowns," Bato said, running his hands along the metal table. "If we misjudge when the eclipse will happen, we might invade to early, and face crushing opposition. Or worse, if we judge it too late, it might happen while we're still gathering ourselves, and we'll lose our only window of opportunity."_

_"That's why you're going to have to figure out when it happens on your own," the newcomer, Jee, said. He was a firebender, but for reasons nobody deigned to tell Toph about, he was working with them. "There are many places which house this information. The closest would be here, the Ember campus of the Fire Academy."_

_"So how are we going to get that information from them? It's not like we can just invade and demand it," Bato said. He had a fairly one track mind, that Bato._

_"We won't have to," Sokka piped up. "When we get there, we just need to walk in like we belong there. It's a school, right? Schools have students. And we're about the right age."_

_"Sokka, are you sure you're up to this?" Sokka's father asked. He had a very kind voice._

_"We have to be, for Aang's sake," Sokka said. She could tell he was now smirking. "You have to have some faith. The world is waiting for him. And when he awakens, it must be ready for him. And if that means crashing a campus, then I guess it's time to go back to school."_

_"You went to school?" Toph asked._

_"No comments from the peanut gallery!"_

Toph didn't like flying. Not at first. The very idea of being so utterly cut off from every bit of stone or earth in the entire world terrified her. She would be utterly blind, and at the mercy of somebody else. She didn't enjoy either. At some point, though, that had changed. When the madness and intensity got too much, when they were fighting, fleeing, rampaging around, she would take to the sky, and feel that wind against her skin. Feel Appa's big, beating heart. In a way she couldn't have predicted was possible, it was comforting.

"Are we there, yet?" Toph asked, annoyed.

"I'll tell you when we're there, Toph," Katara said, sounding distracted. Toph threw up feet up onto the rim of the saddle. At least she wasn't the only blind one right now. Twinkletoes was bending a cloud around Appa, in a bid to keep him concealed from outside observers. She did tell them that anybody looking even a little bit would notice a big cloud moving against the wind at high speeds, but her protests were talked down. They did need to get around.

"This has been a long flight," Sugarqueen pointed out. She turned to where Sokka was sitting. "Are you sure you know where we are?"

"Absolutely," Sokka said. There was a long pause. "Maybe."

"We've gone far enough," Aang said. "Come on buddy, down you go!"

Appa landed softly on the ground, and Toph was the first over the rail. When her feet hit the dirt, sight, her sight, returned to her. She turned back as the others began to hop off. "So your big plan is to sneak into a university and chat the ear off of an astronomer," she asked.

"Yeah, it's not going to be me who does it," Sokka said, rubbing his neck. "I'm older than any student you're going to find here. I can't just walk in. Not on my own, anyway."

"Well, if it's age that's the problem, I still look like a kid," Toph pointed out. Glances were exchanged. "Don't I?"

"It doesn't matter," Aang cut in. "We need somebody who can read and write. Sorry, Toph, but that means you're going to have to stay behind."

"Well, mother f..."

"Toph, please," Sweetness said. "We've all got our parts to play if we want the invasion to go off properly. Right now... this is Aang's task."

"Well, his, mine, and Ty Lee's," Sokka corrected. Toph turned to him.

"How'd ya' figure?" Toph asked. Sokka turned back around, and he had... something stuck to his face. Toph couldn't see it, but even _she_ knew it looked ridiculous.

"A child does not simply walk through the doors!" he declared, his accent so overpronounced that it could only be Azuli. "He must be introduced! By me, his father!"

Toph sighed. The day had just reached its allotment of weird, and it wasn't even lunch yet.

* * *

Aang looked around the building as he was led in. Sokka, with that hilarious beard glued to his face, walked on one side of him, and Ty Lee, wearing a baggy dress with a pillow under it over her belly on the other. The building was very fine, all in dark wood with lighter floors. There wasn't as much red as Aang would have expected. An elderly man sitting behind a desk at the end of the hall looked at them impatiently.

"What is this about?" he asked.

"My son needs to be enrolled in your fine school while I am stationed here!" Sokka declared, his voice booming and authoritative. And at least a little bit silly. Ty Lee looked like she was trying very hard not to laugh.

"It's late in the semester," the headmaster said, uninterestedly. "Try again in a few months when the summer courses begin."

"I will not stand for this! My son must have the finest teachers available, and I was assured that this was where they could be found!" Sokka seemed to be very much enjoying his role.

"And who would you be to be given such claims?" the headmaster asked, steepling his fingers.

"Fire!" Sokka declared. "Wang Fire!"

The headmaster flinched. "Wang Fire. _The_ Wang Fire?" he asked, apprehensive. Only the tiny glance Sokka gave to Ty Lee let Aang know that something wasn't going according to plan.

"Do you know of any other Wang Fires?" Sokka asked, leaning forward, his false-bearded chin resting on his knuckles.

"I apologize for my rudeness," the headmaster said, suddenly obsequious. "Had I known you were coming, I would have prepared something."

"Well, see that it doesn't happen again," Sokka said. He glanced at Aang, and when the Headmaster ducked to find some paperwork, Sokka gave a confounded shrug. He rose back up, with a form in hand.

"Please, sign here, and everything will be sorted out at once," the headmaster said. Sokka pulled out his 'pen' with a dramatic flourish, and signed with gusto. The headmaster looked at it. "Wang Fire... with three exclamation points."

"Its proper spelling!" Sokka exclaimed. "Sign your name, my love."

"Missus?" the headmaster asked.

"Saph Fire," Sokka said. Ty Lee grinned.

"Sapphire Fire. Most people just call me Miss Fire," Ty Lee signed. The headmaster nodded.

"Thank you, Miss Fire," he said. "We will arrange a seating for your son..."

"Kuzon," Aang said.

"At the first possible opportunity," the headmaster bowed deeply to Sokka one more time before hustling out of the room. When the door closed, Ty Lee burst out laughing. Aang turned to his old friend.

"What was that?" Aang asked, perplexed. Sokka shrugged, abandoning his assumed accent.

"I have no idea!" he said. He rubbed his false beard. "Although having it work for us is a pleasant change."

"Saph Fire?" Ty Lee asked between giggles. "Are you insane? I almost broke my water, and I'm not even pregnant!"

* * *

Aang felt a little shell shocked as he sat at the back of the room, watching all of the other students file out. All this time, he had just assumed that the Fire Nation was fundamentally the same as when he visited it, a century ago. But it wasn't. Not even close. These people believed themselves so superior, so above the rest of the world. No wonder they'd invaded it. Aang gave a start when a brown haired girl leaned down toward him.

"What are you still doing here?" she asked. She was about Aang's age, but darker complected. "Come on. There are other classes to go to."

"I was just... thinking about the history lesson," Aang said. True, in its way. "Is what Miss Kwan said really true? About how the Fire Nation launched a preemptive strike against the 'armies' of the Air Nomads?"

The girl shrugged. "I don't know. That's what the history books say," she said. She smiled. "I'm Onji."

"Kuzon," Aang said. He shook his head, rising from his desk. "The Air Nomads didn't have a standing army. There was nothing to attack. The Fire Nation just destroyed them by ambush."

"And how would you know that?" Onji asked. She leaned close. "Were you there?"

"What? No! I mean, that's just ridiculous; I'm not a hundred and fifteen," he laughed weakly. She didn't seem to notice. He followed her out of the room. "Sooooo... Where are you from?"

"Same place you are," Onji said, giving him a light hearted shove. "I'm only here because my dad got stationed here. Could be worse. He could be out on the East Continent fighting the Earthbenders."

"I thought the war was over," Aang said. Onji shrugged.

"Rebellions and uprisings. They never stop," she sighed. "Still, it'd be nice to go back to Azul sometime."

Aang pondered as he walked through the halls. "You don't believe what the history teacher is telling you, am I right?" Aang asked. Onji glanced at him, then looked away.

"We're not supposed to talk about that sort of stuff," she said. Aang was about to press, but he felt a large hand land on his shoulder. He turned, and had to duck out of the way to avoid a fist. "Hide! What are you doing?"

"Stay away from my girlfriend, you little Azuli puke," Hide, a strapping Embiar youth, said, pointing at Aang. "Nobody talks to my girl but me."

"Lots of people talk to her," Aang said, innocently. "She's a very _conversive_ person." Hide lunged at Aang, but he nimbly stepped aside, leaving the larger teenager to crash into a wall and tear down a tapestry. "Is he really your boyfriend?" Aang asked. Onji just sighed and nodded. "He doesn't seem a good match for you."

"Stand still you little bastard!" Hide shouted, but Aang just repositioned himself, always just a hair out of reach. Finally, Hide stopped, breathing deep like he wanted to tear down the entire building, but holding himself back. He turned to Onji. "Let's go. Don't talk to this duskrat; he's a bad influence."

"I assure you, I'm a good influence," Aang said sweetly. Hide let out a growl, but just loomed over Aang.

"Onji is _my_ girlfriend. Mine. Don't you ever forget that."

"That's alright," Aang said. "I've got my own."

Hide, with no other recourse, stormed away, dragging Onji behind him. She cast a sad glance back to him. It wasn't fair that people like him could control people like her. A boy Aang's age approached. "Wow. That was incredible. He couldn't even touch you!"

"It was basic self defense. Let the enemy realize the immorality of his own actions. It also tires him out without you having to expend any energy," Aang said. In a way, it was a perfect melding of Air Nomad philosophy with earthbender doctrine, listening and waiting for the perfect moment.

"I'm Shoji," the boy said. "I think we have astronomy together."

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to that," Aang said.

"Is it true your dad is Wang Fire?" Shoji asked.

"I guess."

"Is it true that he once killed a rabid kimodo rhinoceros with his bare hands?" Shoji asked.

Aang just goggled at the boy. What _were_ people saying about Sokka? Or rather, Wang Fire? Aang shrugged. "You'd have to talk to _Dad_," he said.

* * *

Katara looked up as Aang came back into camp, and he was not alone. The others, all of them, in fact, returned with him. "So you just thought you'd leave me behind did you?" Katara asked, annoyed.

"Sorry, it's just that once we were in there, a lot of stuff happened, and we got distracted," Sokka said, rubbing his neck.

"Somebody called me an urchin," Toph muttered darkly. "Me! An urchin! Sweetness, what's an urchin?"

"The spiky sea creature?" Katara asked. Toph suddenly brightened.

"Oh, well, that's not so bad."

"It's also an impoverished street child," Ty Lee pointed out, letting the pillow drop out of her dress. It landed with a plop. Toph then turned to her.

"IMPOVERISHED!" she shouted. "I could buy everything in that town! Then sell it back for pennies, and buy it again! Who did that guy think he was, callin' me an urchin!"

"I think it's because you don't wear shoes," Katara said. "Add that to the fact that you're dirty almost all the time, and people are going to make assumptions."

Toph set her jaw. "I don't wear shoes because if I do, everything looks all blurry."

"Remind me to never bring you home to meet Gran Gran," Sokka laughed. Toph scowled, then flicked her wrist. The ground shifted under Sokka throwing him off his feet.

"You could try doing something about that," Katara said. "There must be a way that you could wear shoes and not be blind...er than usual."

"Is nobody going to ask me about my day?" Aang asked.

"I'm sorry. Everybody kept interrupting," Katara turned to him, and asked all-too-sweetly. "How was your day, Aang?"

"Horrifying," he said. "The history that they teach these kids is blatantly wrong. The teachers have a superiority complex that would make Azula seem humble... it's mostly propaganda!" he shook his head. "The only good part of the day was when the older students tutored the younger ones. I managed to teach some real history. And Ginzu gave me this," he said, grinning, and pulling out an illustration. "It's a picture of Fire Lord Ozai made of noodles."

"Very impressive, Sokka said, rubbing his hand along his beard. Aang pulled out another.

"This one's me!" he said. True to words, the image, crafted in glued noodles, was Aang. Ozai had a fierce scowl on his face, Aang, a bright grin. Katara shook her head with a small smile. Only Aang would infiltrate a Fire Nation school for information, then stick around to teach small children. "I also had some fun with a couple of friends I made. Shoji and Onji, I think you'd like them." Leave it to Aang to also make friends with the locals. Speaking of which...

"Did you find out when the eclipse is coming?" Katara asked.

"Not yet. I need to talk to the teacher. She's a nice woman, so I don't think I'll have any trouble."

"Don't say that!" Sokka shouted. "Remember what happened last time we tried to find an astronomer?"

"What are the chances that that will happen ag..."

"DON'T EVEN SAY THE WORDS!" Sokka roared, then glanced around, as though something were going to leap out and attack him. "You know how the universe loves to mess with us. Are you really going to give it ammunition like that?"

"You're just being paranoid," Katara said.

"Am I? We are in enemy territory! We're dealing with enemy civilians," he pointed to a bunch of green parrot lizards on a nearby tree. "Those are _enemy birds_!"

Everybody stared at him. Toph looked away, taking a pair of shoes. "I think he's been hittin' the Cactus Juice again," she said, then she stamped through the sole of her shoes. "There we go. Practical footwear for the blind earthbender."

"Well, the good news is that there's a school dance tomorrow," Aang said. "All of the students are supposed to 'mingle with the best and brightest of the Fire Nation'. The astronomer lady is probably going to be there, somewhere. She's only about as old as Toph's mother."

"Promise me we're not going to bring her along," Toph said, walking around in her bottomless shoes, testing them out. She pointed at Katara. "I've already got one mother staring over my shoulder all the time."

"Mother? Are you saying I'm motherly?" Katara asked. Everybody looked away, suddenly very interested in something else. Ty Lee turned to Sokka.

"Does this mean I have to be pregnant again?"

* * *

Sokka looked around the hall, all wide open space. It was an impressive vista, and it was teeming with kids from the ages of ten to seventeen. If Sokka didn't have a beard on his face, he might have been able to disappear into them. And if Ty Lee lost her 'pregnancy', she could do likewise. "You know, it's funny, but I could never imagine the Fire Nation having dances," Sokka said quietly. Well, almost shouted, because the music was quite loud.

"We dance all the time!" Ty Lee said. "It's part of confirming and perpetuating our cultural heritage. That and it's an excuse to get sweaty and tired with people you like!"

Sokka gave a glance to Ty Lee. There was _no way_ she'd said that innocently, but she was munching on Fireflakes like she was somehow a virgin mother. The music picked up, and Sokka could see Aang practically dragging Katara onto the dance floor. He whispered something into her ear, and then, they began to move, elegant, flashy, and overwhelming compared to most others. Sokka had other concerns though. Aang was the foot in the door. Now it was time for Wang Fire to walk the halls. Sokka leaned in to Ty Lee. "Keep an eye on _our boy_," he said. She nodded, staring at the dance floor like she desperately wanted to go up there herself. Maybe later.

Sokka walked away from the other parents and the rambunctious children. Heh. Rambunctious children who where no older than he was. There was irony in that, somewhere. He could smell it. But he followed Aang's directions, and quickly found himself in the 'observatory', a great structure well away from the rest of the campus. He knocked on the door.

"I'm busy, can't this wait until tomorrow?" a distracted sounding woman called from inside.

"Perhaps, but would you really delay Wang Fire?" Sokka asked. There was a long pause. Then, the door opened. The woman was somewhat mousy, with eyes so dark it was hard to see the pupils, a set of spectacles and a fairly dowdy haircut. And she looked a bit excited.

"Wang Fire? Visiting me?" she asked. Sokka put on a grin, but on the inside, he wondered to himself: What the hell was Jee saying about Wang Fire? All he had to do was say the name and people were falling over themselves. He was going to have to have a word with the firebender next time he saw him. "I'm so sorry for the mess, please come in! What can I do for you?"

"I'm looking for some information," Sokka said, keeping his Wang Fire voice going. "Something which will be occurring near the heart of summer. I was told that you were the person to talk to about it."

"And what is that?" she asked.

"The solar eclipse," she blanched when he said that.

"I'm not supposed to talk about those," she said. "It's a crime to discuss it under most circumstances... but then again... you are Wang Fire."

"Of course I am," Sokka said. Now, he just needed to know who the hell Wang Fire had become when he wasn't looking. The astronomer moved back into her study... but it wasn't a study. It was a massive machine. Sokka marveled at its immensity and complexity. What looked to be a gargantuan spyglass was resting on a massive frame, all covered over in a corrugated metal dome. Sokka could see massive gears, which probably rotated the entire device as it needed to move. With this, she could probably look at any star in the heavens.

"Eclipses are somewhat of a pet project of mine," the astronomer rambled, as he realized after being enraptured by her instrument. He'd missed the first part, so endeavored to keep up with the rest. "There was one last year, which didn't last very long. Only about three minutes. A minimal eclipse. But the upcoming one is going to be a full, eight minute eclipse. Where were my notes? You must have felt what happened last time the sun was eclipsed, firebender that you are. Did you know that a similar phenomenon occurs when the moon is eclipsed? It doesn't happen as often, of course, since the moon is so large, but just imagine that: A waterbender, all powered up by the full moon, then boom, powerless..."

Wang Fire was a firebender now? Oh, this just kept getting better and better. "I'm well aware of the effects of the moon on waterbenders," Sokka said, his Wang Fire voice slipping.

"Right. You were there at the North Pole," she turned to him, but shook her head slowly. "That wasn't an eclipse, Mister Fire. Or should I call you Wang?"

"Wang Fire!" He was at the North Pole, too? Damn you, Jee! He was going to get Sokka killed. Or worse, noticed by somebody who could call the bluff.

"My apologies, Mister Wang Fire," she said. "That wasn't an eclipse. Somebody did something to the moon, something unnatural. But an eclipse, it was not. Is this it? Ah! I think I've found it... no, that's not it."

Sokka rolled his eyes. This woman was going to take forever. And he was getting very tired of trying to figure out who Wang Fire was supposed to be.

* * *

Aang sat down, happily tired and sweaty. Katara leaned against him, also covered in a sheen of sweat, which made her dark skin glisten. Ty Lee looked a bit bummed out. Which made sense. She was the only one here who hadn't had a chance to dance, and with that belly she was wearing, she couldn't do any of the really fun dances, like the one Aang and Katara had just finished.

"That was a lot of fun," Katara said.

"Yeah," Ty Lee said gently. "If you were naked, I think they'd call that making love."

Katara and Aang shared glance. It wasn't that lascivious, was it? "I think you need to get your mind out of the gutter," Katara said. Aang shook his head, but his eyes rose up.

"Excuse me. I need to talk to somebody," he said. He slipped away from Katara, somewhat unwillingly. Ever since they reunited on Crescent Island, the two of them were about as scarcely apart as Sokka and the acrobat. Aang felt like he was trying to make up for lost time, not just while he was comatose, but the two years he spent oblivious to the way Katara felt about him. But for the moment, he had a different woman on his mind. "Onji, it's nice to see you again."

Onji turned to him and smiled. "Well, you certainly put on a show. I only wish I could... dance so well," she said. She looked over. "Who is she?"

"Someone closer than friendship or family," Aang said, honestly. He looked past her, through the crowds. "Where's Hide?"

"He doesn't like to dance," she said, regretfully. Aang shook his head.

"I don't understand why you two are together," he said, leading her to the edge of the floor, then to a ledge which overlooked training yards below. They had been quite unhelpful in advancing Aang's firebending. They didn't know anything more than Jee did, when Aang started last year. "I mean, he doesn't respect you, he's violently jealous..."

"He's the best option I have," she said. "I'm not royalty. I'm not even nobility. I'm just somebody who's parents worked really hard to get enough money to send her through. Hide might be... mean... sometimes, but he's still better than a lot of the boys his age. A lot of them wouldn't treat me well at all."

"You know, there is a quiet dignity in peace and prosperity," Aang said. "Not everybody can rule the world, and not everybody can own it. Sometimes, we just have to say 'I want to live in the world', and let other people worry about the rest. Once you do that, you understand that a lot of the fear we carry with us doesn't have any purpose; it floats away like dust in the wind."

"Wow," she said. "That was... really wise."

"People say that about me sometimes," Aang said proudly, rubbing his temple. He stopped when he realized he could dislodge his headband. She was nice now, but one glimpse of an airbender arrow, and it would be the end of everything for him. She stared down at the flagstones for a moment.

"What you said was true, wasn't it?" she asked. "The Air Nomads were just... wiped out. Weren't they?" Aang nodded, quietly. "Where did you hear it?"

"Lots of places," Aang said. First hand, of course, but that wouldn't fly with her. "It was a travesty that people now just choose to ignore. And soon, it will be a travesty that was lost to history, because nobody will have any record that it ever happened. An entire people, wiped off the face of this Earth, by one man's blind, malevolent ambition."

"Hey, that's Fire Lord Sozin, you're talking about," Onji said. Aang realized the rage that had slipped into his voice. It was still there, that coiling searing hatred. It was a hatred which had transferred whole from grandfather to grandson.

"I know," Aang said quietly. "And his position doesn't make it right. Not even close."

Onji stared at him for a long moment, then nodded slowly. "I think I know what you mean. You know, you're a strange person, Kuzon Fire."

Aang nodded. Then, a smile came to his face, one as innocent as a fifteen year old's face should be. "I just had a thought," he said. "Want to dance?"

"As long as it wasn't like what you did with your girlfriend. I think she'd kill me."

* * *

Sokka was well on his way to being bored to death. She was extremely happy to expound at great length, on scientific phenomenon, which was usually a trait that Sokka much admired in a woman, but her subject matter was so dry and uninteresting that he practically fell asleep standing.

"Finally, I've found it!" she declared, bringing Sokka out of his fugue. Finally, an end to her puns about stars and constellations. They were so bad that even _Sokka_ wasn't amused by them. She moved over, and began to read. "According to this, the eclipse is to occur exactly two weeks after the summer solstice, beginning at quarter-rise in the afternoon."

"Thank you, that's just what I've been looking for," Sokka said. "Now, I think it would be best if this stayed between us."

"But... this is a national secret. If word were to get out that I..." she stammered. Sokka stopped her by placing a finger over her lips.

"It shall not be said by I, Wang Fire!" he declared. She seemed to melt a bit at that.

"You're so... charming," she said. "If only you didn't have a wife... Oh, Agni's burning blood, did I say that out loud?" she asked, then blushed bright red, turning away. Sokka strongly suppressed the urge to burst out laughing. It wouldn't be Wang Fire-ish. He turned on his heel and marched away, leaving the dull but sweet middle aged lady behind him. Sometimes, that South Water Tribe charm could work against him, as well as for him. He went back out to the dance floor, where he spied Aang dancing with... a girl who wasn't Katara. His sister did not look too pleased with that.

"We've got the information," Sokka said quietly, sitting between his sister and Ty Lee, who actually looked a bit sad. He looked out at Aang. "What's he doing?"

"Dancing with somebody else," Katara said, anger clear in her voice.

"Are you jealous?"

"I am not jealous," Katara said darkly. Ty Lee looked up and smiled.

"Your aura says your jealous."

"I AM NOT JEALOUS!" Katara shouted. Nearby dancing stopped, and all eyes turned to her. She blushed, and her eyes went down. "Alright. Maybe I'm a little jealous," she admitted. "I mean, after that dance with me I thought..."

"It's just a dance, Katara. It doesn't mean anything."

"Yeah, if he was really unfaithful, there's plenty of other things they could be doing," Ty Lee offered. Katara shot her a withering glare. "But they're not. Obviously. Please don't hurt me."

"Lighten up. The song's almost over, and when it is, he'll come right back over to you like an obedient polar hound," Sokka said. "He's a good guy. If he wasn't I'd have beaten him away with my club by now." The song winded down, and true to Sokka's prediction, Aang bid farewell to the girl and moved straight as the arrow on his head back to Katara. She still fumed a bit. Sokka turned to Ty Lee. She looked positively down. "What's wrong?"

"I wanted to dance," she said sadly. "I even tied on my pregnancy nice and tight so it wouldn't fall off. But I can't dance to any of this. Not without..."

Sokka rubbed his beard, then quickly made his way over to the band. He leaned in and whispered quickly to the players. They took one look at them, and whispered 'Wang Fire' amongst themselves, and began to play a slower, more intimate song. The tone of the dance shifted in an instant, and Sokka, standing as proud as Wang Fire ever could, extended his hand to Ty Lee. A bright smile came to her face, and he swept her gently onto the dance floor, spinning her in slow twirls like leaves sliding down a brook. She didn't say a word. She just smiled up at him, her false belly pressed close to him. Nearby, Aang and Katara were moving in a similar, close, quiet rhythm. When the song was over, Ty Lee just reached up and gave him a warm kiss, ignoring everybody around them. He couldn't have chosen a better way to end his involvement in this night.

"Aang," he said quietly in the hush between songs. "We have the information. We should leave."

Aang got a strange look in his eyes, then shook his head. "I need one more day," he said. "There's just one more thing I need to do here before I feel right about leaving."

"Does it involve setting fire to the library of propaganda they've created?" Sokka asked, hopefully.

"No, but it might just change the entire nation for the better, one child at a time," Aang said. He moved away, straightening his headband. Sokka and Ty Lee followed shortly afterwards. As Sokka left the well lit floor, he spotted Toph, leaning in a corner. How she'd gotten in, he couldn't guess. She also had a distant look... well, as much of a distant look that a blind person could be said to have. Ty Lee nodded, knowing, and went on after her 'son'. Sokka went to Toph's side.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Wood," she said. She seemed to stare at the people, almost sadly. "Everybody's got somebody, don't they?"

"What do you mean?" Sokka asked.

"You've got Sugarqueen," Toph said, pausing a moment to pick something out of her teeth and flick it away. "Twinkletoes has Sweetness. And me? I've got tough luck."

"More like 'Toph' luck," Sokka said, with a nudge for the pun. She just turned to him.

"Don't make me smack you," Toph said. "I'm just saying... It'd be nice not to be on my own."

"You're not on your own," Sokka said, squatting beside her. "You've always got all of us. It might not have always been the case, but now... we're family. We'll always have your back, just like we know you'll always have ours. That's what family does."

"Yeah," she said, distantly. Dreamily, almost. "Of course, it wouldn't hurt if more of the people I met weren't such losers," Sokka chuckled. "I'm serious. If I'm going to get all mushy with somebody, they've got to be as awesome as _I_ am."

"That's a vanishingly small pool," Sokka admitted. Toph then blushed a bit.

"I can think of one," she said, but she wouldn't elaborate on who. "Come on. It's late, I'm hungry, and this place is dull as hell."

"Compared to what?"

"If you could have seen some of the parties Dad didn't think I could see, that crap would strike you _blind_!" she said with a chuckle, and then walked out into the night. Coming from Toph, that somehow meant a lot more. He'd have to ask about them, someday.

* * *

Aang moved through the halls, waiting for the mid bell to ring. He turned back, motioning Shoji to come quickly. After only a few moments, Onji made her appearance, swiftly moving to where Aang and Shoji were waiting. "What is this about? What was so important that it couldn't wait until..."

"I need your help," Aang said. "Today, I've got teaching duty for the little kids. I want you two to get it for yourselves as well. Then, bring them to me."

"What? Why?" Shoji asked.

"I'm going to teach them some real history," Aang said. "The things that they really need to know."

"That could be dangerous," Onji said. "If the headmaster finds out..."

"It won't matter. 'Dad' got transferred out, and I'm not going to be here tomorrow," Aang said. "Which is why it needs to happen today."

Onji and Shoji glanced at each other, then back to Aang, then nodded. Aang smiled. The Fire Nation was going to get an education, today.

* * *

Aang waited, practically fidgeting in his seat as the time seemed to creep by. It felt like when he'd just come out of the iceburg, that rush of manic energy he had coursing through him. The energy that he didn't properly dissipate until after he went penguin sledding with Katara. He thought back to something she said back then.

'I haven't had this much fun since I was a kid', she'd said. Aang didn't understand, then, but he did now. This world turned children into adults very quickly. It turned children into soldiers. Hell, Aang was still a year away from when he _should_ have been ratified as Avatar; Avatars were informed of their divine status at the age of sixteen, so they could experience a normal life, to ground them. Informing them at twelve, as they had with Aang, was considered a very bad idea. Kuruk was informed early, and it cost him, and the world, greatly. But Aang could be nothing but grounded. He had a war to fight. A war depending on him.

And a war that bending alone couldn't end. There was more at stake here than land and titles. Children's minds and souls were on the line. Finally, the gong sounded and people began to rise from their seats. Aang almost dashed for the doors, moving out into the hallways. He'd been looking forward to this since last night. An act of good, to give balance to the fighting of evil that he'd been doing.

He moved swiftly through the halls, toward where the children were taught, but he was caught short and slammed into a wooden beam. Hide stared down at him. "I hear you were dancing with my girlfriend, last night," Hide said. "I oughtta pound you into pulp."

"Ordinarily," Aang said, "I'd allow you to see the inherent immorality of your own actions, so that you could be the shepherd for your own soul. But today? Today I'm on a bit of a deadline," Aang punctuated his words by slamming forward a fist, empowered by airbending, directly into Hide's chest. The larger teenager flew away, smashing into a wall, and crumpling. "I'm very sorry about this," Aang said, before moving on.

Aang moved into the room where the children were taught. It was packed very full, since three teacher's worth of students, just about all of the children enrolled, were all packed into one place. Onji and Shoji were standing near the doors. "Thank you for doing this," he said to them, a smile on his face. "This means more to me than you will ever know."

Aang moved to the front of the classroom, and began to talk. He talked about his life, growing up in the Southern Air Temple. He mentioned no names, especially not his own, but with his words, he painted a portrait of life amongst the Air Nomads. The meditations of the Zen, stretching for days and days. The enlightened who walked the grounds, giving words of wisdom to those who still toiled. The trainers and craftsmen who worked with the Sky Bison. And Aang spoke of the Sky Bison, those wonderful beasts who roamed the sky.

As he spoke of them, he sometimes felt tears come to his eyes, but he always wiped them away, and continued. He told them about how a Sky Bison would chose its master, and the two would become bonded for the rest of their lives. Like Aang and Appa. Appa was only ten years old. It wasn't even fully grown yet. He told them about the games the children would play; airball and scooter derby. The freedom of gliding upon the winds one crafted. He spoke of the friends that the Air Nomads had with every nation. He spoke of the Fire Nation that once was.

Then, Aang's eyes fell, and he began to speak of other things. Sadder things. He spoke of an Avatar who fled, just before Sozin came. He told them in words that they could understand how the firebenders destroyed that way of life, wiped out that people and drove those who could into hiding, their birthright and their ways vanishing into the mists of history. Not because they had any aggressive design, but because a man was afraid. No names, again, but Aang spoke of a man who wanted, and that his hunger had caused pain for many. And he told them how to avoid that hunger in themselves.

Aang's smile returned, painful as it was, when he stopped, and looked down at a little girl who couldn't have been more than six or seven. "What is it?" Aang asked.

"Are the Air Nomads really gone? For good?"

Aang looked at Onji, at Shoji. At the children before him. He thought of all the people that would be helped, or unhelped. He heard Sokka's words in his mind. Be reasonable. And he knew they were right. Aang's eyes went down. "Yes," he said. "They're gone. But they can live on forever if you remember them. Remember who they were, what they stood for. If you remember the part that they played in this world, then the Air Nomads will live forever."

Aang walked toward the back of the room. Shoji looked at him, as though seeing him anew. "How did you know all of that?" he asked. Onji glanced around, then leaned closer.

"Are you descended from the Air Nomads?" she asked quietly. Aang stared at her, then nodded. It was the truth. His parents were Air Nomads... in a way. They were each converts, his mother from somewhere in the Ember archipelago, his father from Great Whales, but they were Air Nomads, in their hearts and souls, if not in their blood.

"I heard all the stories they told me," Aang said. And lived them, besides. "And I always knew that I had to pass them on to somebody. Anybody. They can't just die with me. People need to know that the world wasn't the way it was now. That the Fire Nation was once so much better than this. That it could be again."

"Wow," Shoji said. "No wonder Wang Fire is such a hero. His parents were refugee Air Nomads!"

"Shoji, be quiet!" Onji cautioned. Aang couldn't help but smile. Shoji smiled back.

"You know, if I'd have met you three years ago, I bet we could have played a wicked game of Hide-And-Explode," Shoji said. He extended a hand, but Aang bowed low, giving his ancient Fire Nation salute.

"It's been my honor," he said. "Stay flaming, hotman."

"What?" both teenagers said as one, but Aang was already walking away. He was telling the truth. The Fire Nation could be so much better than it was now. But it needed the right influence, at the right point. These children would probably never forget the stories they were told, and they would remember the better days behind them. And they would make the world a better place. He just knew it. Aang quickly ducked out of the building, running through the hills till he reached the camp, which had already been broken down. Appa was ready to go.

"So, are you going to tell us what that was about?" Toph asked, leaning against the back of the saddle.

"Just something I had to do before I left," Aang said. "Come on, buddy. Yip yip!"

Behind him, Katara turned to her brother. "Alright, you can get rid of that stupid beard, now."

"No, I can't," Sokka said, evenly. Almost smugly. He ran his fingers along it. "It has been permanently glued to my face."

Katara sighed, tweezing the bridge of her nose with her fingers, as Aang laughed.

* * *

Azula rose from her bath. The hot water felt good after a tiring day of training. Just because she was both the Fire Nation's Crown Princess and the second greatest firebender in the world didn't mean that she could afford to miss training. If she wanted to be the best, she would have to train harder. Ever since Zuko had returned home, he started making blue flame. Not frequently, but any at all had the Fire Sages atwitter. Supposedly, only two or so benders every millennium could bend blue fire. That meant that Azula was something legendary. That Zuko could emulate her, even only occasionally... it galled.

She held her arms up, and the downcast servants draped the robe over her form and moved away. They knew that at night, she did her own hair. It was a practice she enjoyed for many years, beginning with her childhood and up through today. She sat before the great mirror as the servants scurried away, and began to run the masterfully crafted comb through her waist-long hair.

"You were always so strong," Mother's voice came. Azula's eyes tightened and a searing rage began to push through her heart. Ursa was standing behind her in that reflection, staring down at her with those sad, golden eyes. "Always pushing past what everybody thought you were capable of. Oh, if you only knew how proud you made me."

"I never made you _proud_," Azula spat, continuing to brush her hair. "You were ashamed of me. The only one who ever made you proud was Zuko. You had no _time_ for me."

"Zuko wasn't as strong as you are," Mother said quietly. "He needed so much more. If I hadn't been there for him, I think he would have lost himself."

"And where did that leave me? You abandoned me!"

"I never stopped trying to reach out to you," Mother said. "You were the one who turned me away, who never let me get close. I know how badly you wanted to have somebody you could trust, and I wanted it to be me."

"Trust? You talk to me about trust?" Azula slammed her comb down. "You betrayed this family. You murdered my grandfather! You don't know anything about trust, you demon!"

"I know you want to trust them," Ursa said, taking a step closer. "You want _so badly_ to trust your friends. You want to be able to sleep at night and know that they'll be there in the morning. That they'll love you without having to fear you."

"You don't know anything about me," Azula snapped.

"I think I do," Ursa said. "I'm so sorry I couldn't have seen it sooner. Seen it in time."

Azula took a deep breath, trying to calm the blinding rage that threatened to overwhelm her. No. She would not lose control. If she did, she would be no better than an animal. She was Crown Princess. She had to be _perfect_. Nothing less would be good enough. "Leave me alone, Ursa," she said harshly. Ursa sighed, then nodded slowly.

"If that's what you really want," she said. "Please, remember that I always loved you."

"YOU NEVER LOVED ME!" Azula shrieked, spinning to face her mother. Ursa was gone. Azula panted, feeling that heat lick across her soul. She was alone. Mother wasn't here. She hadn't been here for a very long time. Pulling that anger back in check, she seated herself down again, and with her visage schooled to an expressionless mask, she continued her task of combing out her long black hair. Five strokes. Six. Seven. Eight...

* * *

_Leave a review, if you please_.

_As for the question as to Piandao's 'revelation', it would really depend on which one is being referred to. The one about Piandao's heritage, descent from Kuzon back during Aang's time? Fully intended, known before I even brought him in during book 2. The other one, which you'll have to read a little closer for? Also intended, and will pay off after the Invasion. The last one, which you'd pretty much have to live inside my head to see coming? Won't come about until the end of this book. Like, the end, end._


	4. Hero of the Fire Nation

**Fire.**

**Wang Fire.**

_

* * *

_

"It's a matter of information," Jee explained. He was much changed, not just from when Sokka had first 'met' him, fighting along with Zuko's men years ago, but from when they'd reunited in the swamp, a year later. His grey hair had been shaved, his beard cropped very short. "I've been to the Fire Nation a few times, and I've figured out that rumors, in the right hands, are a very dangerous weapon. They can be used against us, or for us. It's just how we utilize them."

_Sokka shook his head. "Words are words. People see through rumors."_

_"People like you, people who examine and critically evaluate everything they come across, yes. But most people believe what they are told, because they are told it," Jee said. "There are many people who are content not to think. And they hold a dangerous amount of sway."_

_Sokka sighed. "Then why should we even bother?"_

_"A closed mind can be opened, and once opened, never closed again," Jee said. He spread his arms. "I mean, look at me! Three years ago, I was trying to kill you. But I know things now that I didn't know, then. I know that getting the right words into the right place, at the right time, can make all the difference in the world. And right now, the words are going to work for us. Tell me, Sokka of the South Water Tribe. Who would you like to be tomorrow?"_

Sokka was beginning to regret gluing the beard to his face. Next time he wanted to go bearded, he'd just have to grow a beard. Considering how quickly it grew when he forgot to shave it, it wouldn't take long. And it was probably a contributing factor to the way everybody was staring at him like he'd grown a second head.

"You're going to do... _what?_" Katara asked.

"We know the location of the Gates of Azulon, but beyond that, we've got practically nothing. So I intend to infiltrate the military and find something I can use for the invasion," Sokka said evenly. Katara stared at him.

"You're going to infiltrate... _WHAT?_" she asked.

"I'm going with him," Ty Lee pointed out. Her hair, a very matronly up-do and loose maternal clothing added years to her looks.

"But you were 'pregnant' a few days ago," Aang pointed out.

"We have a newborn son," Sokka said. "His name is Baak Fire and he is with the wetnurse back at my manor."

"You have a manor?" Toph asked.

"You realize, nothing's going to ever get done if we don't stop asking pointless questions," Sokka muttered. "First, we need to find Jee. He's somewhere in the town. Maybe he'll have answers as to why Wang Fire is such a big name right now."

"Oh, great. My brother is looking for the source of his hero worship. Weren't you bemoaning your mundane nature not too long ago?"

"If you're going to keep up a lie, you need to know the lie better than the truth," Toph pointed out. "Loverboy here doesn't have all the facts on his Wang Fire character, which means he could get tripped up by something he doesn't even know about. Trust me. I know about suckering people."

"Thank you, you make my case," Sokka said.

"I don't know about this," Aang said warily. "You're going to literally be surrounded by Fire Nation soldiers. If anything goes wrong, there's no way we'll be able to help you."

"Nothing will go wrong," Ty Lee said brightly. Everybody cringed at once when she said it. "What?"

"Oh great," Sokka said flatly. "Were doomed."

* * *

Jee looked up from his desk as the door slammed shut. A smirk came to his face when he beheld the bearded Tribesman and the wayward acrobat. "I've been waiting for quite a while. If I didn't know any better, I'd have sworn you'd forgotten about me."

"As I see it, we're still on schedule," Sokka pointed out, not even bothering to put on his flawless, if comical, Azuli accent. Sokka pulled a sword off his back and leaned it against the wall, before seating himself with a look of utter annoyance on his face. "Jee, what in the arid sands of Hell are you saying about me?"

"What do you mean?" Jee asked, leaning back.

"About a week ago, I pulled this 'Wang Fire' stuff to find out the date of the eclipse..."

"And you have it?" Jee asked. Sokka gave a 'what am I, a moron?' expression.

"Of course I do. And when I mention the name, people start falling over themselves to please me like I'm the Fire Lord's stronger, more attractive brother," Sokka said. The acrobat grinned.

"He's right about the better looking part, though," she said. Jee sighed.

"Part of what I did here was float rumors," Jee explained. "I sent out a few, a name and a few deeds. Wang Fire is part of the Fire Nation Army. Wang Fire was a private. Wang Fire fought with distinction. But in order to make somebody appear out of nowhere, you've got to float a few which are just unbelievable, things that people will say no, that makes no sense, but that other, more sensible one, that does," Jee leaned forward, a smirk appearing on his face. "The problem was, just about everything was believed."

"What."

"I let the rumors go out that Wang Fire rose through the ranks to Colonel, but when Zhao launched his attack on the North Water Tribe a few years ago, he mutinied, saving the lives of everybody on his ship. In response, he was prisoned and stripped of rank, only to be released to put down a rebellion in the town of Chin."

"I remember that place! We saved it two years ago."

"Not well enough," Jee muttered. "A few months ago, the army came back and burned it to the ground, but not before some... friends of mine, made sure to evacuate it. Which also got attributed to Wang Fire, of course. Sokka, in order to make a passable identity to get you through the gates of that garrison, I accidentally made you a national hero."

Sokka stared at him. "You. Did. _What_?"

"Oh, this is so exciting!" Ty Lee said.

"A national hero that everybody swears they've served with, but nobody could describe to save their lives," Jee paused, laughing dryly. "You know, if I'd known I was this good at spreading rumors, I would have said to hell with the military, I'm joining the Cultural Authority in Ba Sing Se!"

Sokka rubbed his forehead with the heel of a hand. "What else did you say about me? Do I make lightning? Did I single handedly tear down the walls at Ba Sing Se? Is there anything you said about me that these people _don't_ believe?"

"No, I managed to restrain myself, there. A weak, but cunning firebender. I figure I shouldn't be giving you any more problems than I could get away with," Jee shrugged. "You're an innovative fellow. I'm sure you can come to some advantage by this. And they don't believe _everything_ I tell them. They didn't believe that you personally saved the life of Crown Princess Azula from an assassin," he leaned forward. "Mostly, because nobody would believe an assassin would survive long enough in Azula's presence for her to require saving."

"Yeah, who'd be dumb enough to believe that?" Ty Lee asked. All eyes went to her. "What? She can be scary."

Sokka sighed. "Great. Just when I thought things would be easy for once, something like this happens."

"Quite to the contrary," Jee pointed out. "This could work for you. A national hero could have a surprising amount of clout in a backwater Embiar garrison. You'd probably face a lot more opposition if you went to, say, Fire Fountain City or Grand Ember," Jee smirked. "You're Wang Fire. You've got a job to do, now stop wasting my time and do it."

"Thanks a lot," Sokka said sarcastically. "This is going to be an object lesson in how people can't live up to their legends."

Sokka stood, taking the acrobat with him. Jee gave one last glance at the boy's sword. Unless his eyes were completely failing him, that was one of Piandao's, and he didn't give those away lightly. Jee leaned back, lighting the contents of his pipe. This Sokka was probably going to be just fine playing the part of Wang Fire, Hero of the Fire Nation.

* * *

Chen stared, bleary eyed out of the guard post in front of the gates. This had to be the singularly dullest station in all of the Fire Nation. It didn't have teeming industry of Fire Fountain, nor the ubiquitous splendors and natural beauty of Lesser Ember, nor the cosmopolitan joys of Grand Ember. It was just dull. Uninteresting. Boring. He tried to list all of the synonyms of 'jaw-achingly unremarkable' for a few minutes, but even that grew old.

"Hey, Chen," Goh, the chunky fellow next to him. "What're you doin' after the shift?"

"Getting drunk, probably," he said. "Not like there's much else to do on this island. Makes me wish I'd joined the Navy."

"No way, Chen. I get sea-sick," Goh said. Chen shook his head. From one of the most promising youths in Ember to a backwater gatekeeper. Lovely. He sighed, but his eyes widened when he saw somebody marching toward the gate. "Hey, who is that?"

"State your name and purpose," Chen said, moving into a firebending form. Definitely should have joined the Navy. His father, an admiral, could have brought him up the ranks nice and quick. Instead, he scared off peasants. The man stopped, ran a hand along his beard, then planted his fists on his hips.

"You will let me through!" he said, an obvious Azuli accent to his Huojian. "I am a very busy man, and I will not have my wife out in these interminable conditions any longer than I must."

Chen didn't see a wife. "Move along, you duskrat peasant."

"Duskrat?" the man said. "DUSKRAT? Do you have any idea who you're speaking to?"

"Somebody with no concept of indoor voice," Goh offered.

"I am Wang Fire! Hero of the Fire Nation!" he declared. Goh went pale.

"I'm terribly sorry, mister Wang Fire," he stammered. He turned to Chen. "Let him through, Chen!"

"Who's Wang Fire?" Chen asked.

"Let him in!" Goh stressed. Chen scowled, but rang his gong three times. The gates began to rumble then slide open. Goh had moved away from his station and was furiously pumping this Wang Fire's arm. "It's such an honor to meet you, mister Wang Fire! I've heard all about your exploits in Chin."

"A horrible business, which could have been far worse," Wang Fire tapped his nose, then moved past Chen. Chen stared at him. His skin was darkened, as though he'd been long out in the sun, and his eyes were so pale they were almost blue. "Don't stand in my way again."

Chen fumed. Who did this Wang Fire think he was? He wasn't going to let this affront to his honor stand. A smirk came this face as he considered how he was going to show the world how 'legendary' this Wang Fire really was.

* * *

The reaction when the garrison realized that Wang Fire was coming to see them was downright explosive. The soldiers gathered around him like children trying to get their father's last cone of ice-cream. Sokka was just eating the attention up. That left Ty Lee to move about unhindered. In a way, it was very exciting. She was getting to sneak around, being all stealthy and such. Going places nobody wanted her to. But it also felt dishonest.

A thought occurred to her as she was walking away from the 'legendary soldier'. Was what she was doing right now dishonest? Not just infiltrating this garrison, but everything she'd done over the last six months? She was betraying her nation. No, she reminded herself. She was trying to save it. She was looking for that happy ending. It was out there. She just had to find it.

Ty Lee moved through the single bailey to the buildings gathered at the far side, a rough collection of barracks and training rooms, and a row of raised houses at the back. Ty Lee moved closer. Her eyes brightened when she saw that there were children running around back there. That must be where the married soldiers lived! Children! She moved a bit faster, but remembered that she had supposedly just given birth, so she would have to have some restraint. One of the ladies, dark eyed and haired like Ty Lee herself, noticed her moving closer.

"You don't look familiar," the woman said. She smiled brightly and moved closer, giving Ty Lee a brief, welcoming hug. It was quite unlike Ty Lee's usual sort; brief, and not very heartfelt. "Still, it's good to know that more men are coming to this station. We need all the manpower we can get."

Ty Lee frowned. "Why is that?" she asked. The woman glanced around, and a hateful look went onto her face.

"Because about six months back, the Dark Prince returned to the Fire Nation," she said. Ty Lee was confused. "Everybody knows that Ozai sent that little traitor away to protect this nation. And now, he's come sauntering back. I hear he's not even Ozai's legitimate son! We have to protect ourselves."

"From Prince Zuko?" Ty Lee asked. That didn't make any kind of sense. Zuko was hardly a person to be afraid of. In fact, it was his _kindness_ which got him exiled.

"Of course. With Azula, at least we knew we had a strong hand at the helm. But him... I just don't trust him," she said. She turned back to Ty Lee. "My name is Tia, and you are?"

"Sapphire," she said.

"That's an odd name," Tia said. "So. Who is your man?"

"Wang Fire," she said, with a smile. Tia laughed.

"Right. Now, seriously, who is your husband?"

"Wang Fire," she repeated. She gestured over, and the woman saw the men crowding around Sokka... ahem, Wang Fire... and she blanched.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know he was coming to this garrison," she said. She put on a bright smile. Put on was the term. Ty Lee was an expert on when brightness was genuine.

"We didn't know ourselves. That's the life military," she said idly.

"Please, come with me, I'll show you to the other wives and husbands," Tia showed Ty Lee around, and the latter spent a great deal of time ruffling the hair and pinching the cheeks of children. A large part of her choosing to join the circus instead of another outlet was because she loved working around kids. When the whistle-stop tour finished, Tia invited them to dinner after fall-even, and showed her to the house which she could use.

"There's one other thing I'd like," Ty Lee said. "Do you think you could show me around base? I mean, I could go exploring, but that might be in poor taste."

"True," Tia said. "Leave it to the Azuli wives to go ghosting about where they're not invited. Come along. I'll show you anything there is worth seeing."

Ty Lee smiled. If she got any better at this, then she could see about getting a job with the Ember Island Players when she was done of this 'saving the world' business. That was a job that her parents would have absolutely _despised_.

* * *

"So there I was, faced with the overwhelming might of the Northern waterbenders, when the signal came to push through the wall," Sokka said. "But I felt something was off. I knew 'Grand Admiral' Zhao long before, and he had a spark of madness in him. So I held back. The next part is a story I'm sure you've all heard. How the moon turned red in the sky and then vanished, and what came after. The captain of my ship declared me a coward when I wouldn't lead the men to what was obviously a slaughter, so I engaged him in a duel, and upon his defeat, took the ship away before the Avatar could tear us all to shreds."

It was a story that Sokka heard told to him, mixed in with bits of his own device. If he couldn't be self aggrandizing as Wang Fire, then when could he? The men nodded, knowingly, murmuring their agreement with his course of action. Zhao, by the end, was not a popular figure in the Fire Nation military. Sokka heard that Zhao was actually defeated in something called an Agni Kai by Zuko, back when Zuko was still a pushover, and left to live in shame. It fit with what Sokka knew about the man. One of the soldiers sighed. "It's a pity what came after."

"I would do it again," Sokka said, putting a note of pride into his accent. "Those men and women were family to me. I could not leave them to die because of one man's mad dream."

"I understand completely," Goh, the fairly rotund man Sokka met at the gate said. The man standing next to him was staring pointedly away. Sokka didn't care. He'd played storyteller long enough.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have other duties to attend to," Sokka rose, taking one last drink of his rice wine, and giving the men and women stationed here a nod as he left. It was good that he hadn't stayed long. The last thing he needed was to get as drunk as he did that time in Ba Sing Se. He wondered what ever became of Lilac. Ah, well, That was half a year ago. And besides, he was in far finer company now.

Sokka walked to the raised houses near the back of the complex, and was intercepted by Ty Lee. "I was just thinking about you," Sokka said with a smile. She gave an appreciative peck on the cheek, then took him into a gap between buildings.

"I've found the building with the maps of the Bay of Tenko, the Gates of Azulon, and the Bay Bi Zuei," she giggled for a moment. "Most don't even realize that means 'the bay of Shut The Hell Up'."

"Makes sense, considering what's on the other side of it," Sokka conceded. "Where is it?"

"Oh, you start with the Bay of Tenko in the east, then the Gates, then..."

"I mean the building," Sokka corrected. Ty Lee paused, then smiled. She was a frequent smiler. That was a good thing, considering how unbelievably mad this whole invasion was. They all needed somebody who never let her spirits fall.

"It's right this way," she said, and she began to haul him along. As she moved through the buildings, she looked back. "Ember sure has changed."

"What do you mean?"

"I left here six years ago," she said quietly. "Now, it's like they hate everybody. Not just the Earth Kingdoms or the Water Tribes. They're talking about fighting the Azuli!"

"What?"

"I know! And Ozai's never been more popular than he is right here, right now," Ty Lee shook her head. "It's all so confusing."

"I don't think it is," Sokka said. "Ember's become a very have-not district, hasn't it?" she nodded. "You went from being the breadbasket of the continent, to being nothing. Then, you started digging for coal, but Burning Rock produced better and more, so you were nothing again. People don't like when they feel like they've got no say. People like the Fire Lord are probably very good at wringing support from them."

"Wow. That's very deep," Ty Lee stopped, pondering.

"In the last six months, I've done _a lot_ of talking with Jee," Sokka admitted. Ty Lee pressed on, and they entered the central communications hub of the base. The place was a cacophonous din of hawk-cries, as the birds were caged all up and down the walls. Well away from them, dozens of documents were stored in a closed cupboard. A grey haired woman looked up at them when they entered.

"What do you want?" she asked. She had a weary expression and looked like she got far less sleep than she needed. Sokka puffed out his chest and straightened his back to its utmost.

"I need to see some documents!" Sokka declared.

"Get permission from the base commander," she said.

"I wish to see them immediately!" Sokka pressed.

"The only way you are going to see them immediately is if you're Wang Fire himself," she said. Sokka wiggled his eyebrows. She sighed. "You're Wang Fire, aren't you?"

"I'm surprised you didn't recognize me!" Sokka said. He was really starting to regret putting so much effort into his voice. He wasn't going to be able to keep this up for much longer before it started to break. The woman sighed, then opened up the cage separating the outside from the documents.

"Just don't mention this to anybody," she said. "I've got enough problems cleaning up the crap that comes out of just the birds."

Sokka grinned behind his false beard and began to carefully pick through the maps. It was a smorgasbord the likes of which he had never beheld. There were maps of EVERYTHING here. If he were a more excitable man, he would be foaming at the mouth right now. But there was one in particular he needed, since Ty Lee removed the need for another. The map of the bays, and the Gates between them.

He picked through, thinking of the plan. The chances of it working were about a snowball's in Hell, but they had to try. And it was the best option that they had. Sokka reached up for one of the larger folders. Within it were Team Avatar's wanted posters. Sokka sighed. The only good news was that Sokka looked nothing like his own depiction. It was like whoever drew him, drew him badly on purpose. He gave a glance to Ty Lee. It was entirely possible that was the case. Still, they were a sword above all their heads.

"Is this it?" Ty Lee asked, pulling out a map. He shook his head.

"Close, but not quite. Where did you find this?" he asked. She pointed him to her shelves, and he opened the bottommost. That seemed to be the system. Start with the newest at the bottom, and work your way up, until you run out of room, and then, throw them away. After a few misses, he found it. A map of the Bays, complete with the Gates and the locations of the fleets. It would be long out of date by the time the Invasion occurred, but it would serve its purpose well enough.

"Alright. Let's get out of here," Sokka said, folding up the map, rather than rolling it. He slipped it into his vest and walked out the door. When he did, one of the soldiers spotted him, and marched up to him, an accusatory finger thrust into his face.

"I know what you're doing," the young man spat. Sokka tried very hard not to flinch.

"I don't know what you mean."

"Don't even try it," he said. "I've wanted to have a piece of you since you walked up to the gate. Wang Fire, I challenge you to Agni Kai!"

Beside Sokka, Ty Lee's hands grabbed hard at his arm, her nails digging into his flesh. He didn't need to look to know that she had gone pale of fear. But Sokka made very sure not to let his alarm, or more importantly, his confusion, show on his face. "No," he said simply.

The man's eye twitched. "No?" he shouted. "You can't say no!"

"Why not?" Sokka asked.

"That's not how Agni Kai works!"

Goh approached the hubbub, and began to tug at the young man's arm. "Come on, Chen. Leave Wang Fire alone!"

"He's a coward. A coward and a traitor," Chen said. "I will make my name by defeating you, Wang Fire. You will be my stepping stone to greatness."

"I said I didn't want to duel you in 'Agni Kai', because I didn't want to have to embarrass and humiliate you," Sokka said, not having to try to hard to sound arrogant. "But if you insist, I will show you why no man has ever defeated me."

It was definitely the truth. Every time he'd ever been beaten in combat, it was by a woman – which was, admittedly, more often than he'd have liked – and he'd never fought in an Agni Kai before, so he was technically undefeated. "Good. I'll await you at dusk!" Chen said. Everybody was murmuring to themselves as he stormed away.

"What was that about?" one of the soldiers asked. Goh just shrugged.

"Sokka, what have you done?" Ty Lee whispered into his ear. She dragged him to one side, away from the people. "Do you realize what an Agni Kai is?"

"Not really."

"It's a firebender's duel!" she said. He pondered, then rolled up his sleeves, showing the tubes of flammable jelly. Firebending for the non firebender. She shook her head. "You fight bare chested. And bare footed, if that mattered."

Sokka sighed. Of course, just when things were going well, something had to come up to throw the whole mess into jeopardy. And possibly kill him. He pondered, running a hand along his beard. He was quite alarmed when it fell off. He quickly stuck it back on. "I guess I'll just have to improvise," Sokka said.

* * *

Sokka idly wandered onto the field of honor, a towel the only thing he was wearing from the waist up. He dabbed at his face from where Ty Lee had made a great show of 'shaving' him after dinner. Chen was waiting for him. "I always shave before an Agni Kai," Sokka said, putting some gusto into his voice. "Needless to say, it's been a very long time since somebody was foolish enough to challenge me to one."

"Let's see if you live up to your legend, Wang Fire," Chen said, moving into what anybody could recognize as a firebending stance. Sokka didn't move a whit. "Well? Are you ready?"

"I have no desire to kill you today," Sokka said. He smiled. "How about we make this a bit more... interesting? If you defeat me by your rules, then I am a failure and quite possibly a corpse, and more power to you. I will fight by the Rules of Sokka Kai. If I can still best you, then you will know who is the legend. You do know the rules, don't you? First one face down on the ground loses. And to make it interesting, I'll even do it 'non fuego'. Still up for the challenge?"

"You really think you can handicap yourself?" Chen asked. He smirked. "Fine. Be my guest. But at least say goodbye to your wife before you do."

Ty Lee was watching from the sidelines, wondering what the hell Sokka could possibly be thinking. But he said that he had a plan, and she had to trust him. Even though she could have 'accidentally' bumped into Chen and blocked his chi, rendering him helpless. In fact she still really wanted to, but Sokka had been adamant. She just hoped he hadn't bitten off more than he could chew. Possibly while on fire.

Sokka pulled off the towel and dropped it one side, and lowered himself into what obviously wasn't a firebending stance. The sky was red, almost angry. But then, Chen punched forward, and a gout of flame leapt across the stone floor. Sokka twisted to one side, stepping away. He then did absolutely nothing. Chen pounded two more blasts, these ones Sokka bounded over. She grinned. He was using the movements that she taught him, those acrobatic maneuvers to stay out of the way.

"Aren't you going to try to attack me?" Chen shouted. Sokka just smiled.

"That isn't how Sokka Kai is fought," he said. "I wouldn't want to break my own rules. That would be downright embarrassing."

"Fine. Let's see how you deal with this!" Chen then surged forward, sweeping a fan of fire across the arena. Sokka ran forward and slid under it, coming to a stop a bit closer, and in a very dignified pose. Chen growled, then began to cast out a succession of fire balls, which Sokka finally started having to care about to dodge.

"Very sloppy," Sokka said, skidding to a stop. "I've seen better firebending in Chin, and they were earthbenders."

"Why don't you just shut up!" Chen roared, and a huge pillar of fire roared up from his kick, searing across the arena floor. Sokka easily got out of the way. Ty Lee had seen much better firebending before. Comparing this to Azula was like comparing finger painting to the great portraits of the Fire Lords. Worse, it was like comparing Sokka's 'art' to Piandaos'. But Sokka was in a firebending duel against a firebender without himself being a firebender.

"Your form is a little sloppy," Sokka said with bravado. "Perhaps you'd like to rest a moment and collect yourself?"

"Just stand still and die!" Chen shouted. But Sokka did anything but. He moved around the edge of the arena, nimbly avoiding all of Chen's attacks, and with each attack, he moved a little bit closer to Chen. She finally understood what Sokka was planning. He was intentionally aggravating Chen, so that Chen would sacrifice control for power. Sokka would then use that lack of control to get around the attack. But how would Sokka possibly counter Chen at the end?

"GET HIM!" Ty Lee shouted. "GO FOR THE EYES!" Sokka put on a grin, and moved into a different stance. Chen began to give out a flurry of blows, each erupting fire. Sokka began to flow into constant movement, dodging and weaving, diving and rolling, bounding and sliding. He began to approach Chen, not at a halting pace, but at a dead run, always slipping around the attack which Chen wouldn't release or relinquish. Sokka kept getting closer and closer, until finally he dropped under a blast of fire which must have singed his eyelashes, twisted, came up on the back side of Chen, then brought his leg up hard into Chen's groin.

The entire crowd grasped, and Chen let out a strangled, high pitched yelp of pain, before pitching forward onto his knees. He held his wounded extremity, his eyes rolling back into his head. Sokka stood behind him for a moment, then pushed Chen forward onto his face. He rose his fists into the air. "Sokka Kai!" he shouted. Little did he know how literal he was being. The people stared amongst each other, shocked at what they'd witnessed. Sokka leaned down to the pride-wounded Chen. "That is a lesson. Pride and assumptions get people killed. Consider yourself lucky that you'll just be sitting funny for a few days."

The base commander stepped forward. "By the rules of... Sokka Kai, a victor has been found. Go now with the Fire," he turned, looking Sokka up and down. "I didn't expect you to leave him alive."

"He's young. He'll learn," Sokka said. Ty Lee began to clap and laugh as he exited the field. She ran up to him, as he stood there stripped to the waist, his wiry muscle heaving against dark, smooth skin, dotted with perspiration. Sokka might claim he was just a seventeen year old Tribesman, but right now, he looked anything but. He looked like a _badass_.

"Take me now, Wang Fire," Ty Lee said. Sokka grinned, and turned to the commander.

"Duty calls, sir," he said, and swept Ty Lee off her feet, carrying her toward the houses at the back of the base. She smiled up at him as he moved forward, the unstoppable champion, up the short stairway and into the building they were briefly using. He set her down. "Wow. I really didn't think for a second that would work."

He sighed, leaning against the wall. He looked tired. And considering the performance he'd just put on, it wasn't any wonder why. His grin didn't alter one hair, though. "You know, we've got what we came for. We should probably go back to the others. You know, let them know that..."

She cut him off by leaning very close to his face. With utter sincerity and leaving no room for misinterpretation, she repeated herself. "Take me now, Wang Fire," she said, her eyes locked on his. He had such beautiful eyes. His grin dropped away.

"What, seriously?" he asked, scooting back up the wall. She stayed with him all the way up. "I mean... Really?"

"Take. Me. Now," she said. That goofy grin returned, and he swept her up one more time, as she dragged herself up to his lips. Blindly, they moved through the house toward the bedroom. They never made it.

* * *

Aang listened, and waited. His headband was tied low over his eyes, making vision impossible. Instead, he saw with his feet, feeling the vibrations of movement through the earth. It was the perception which Toph painstakingly hammered into his head, until he finally was able to get that tremor sense, that complete map of anything which touched the stone and dirt. He felt Katara moving, extending a whip of water toward him. He surged, a gout of flame snuffing out as it hit the whip, but rendering the water into steam. Toph took that moment to attack, sending a surge of earth toward him. Aang stomped it flat, then twisted, blasting the blind earthbender with a gust of air.

"You're finally starting to get it, Twinkletoes," Toph said proudly. Aang turned, feeling another approach. "Well, it's about time Sparky showed up." Aang pulled off his blindfold and moved to the mouth of the cave. Even though he'd promised Sokka it wouldn't be a procession of caves, there were few better places to hide a twelve tonne fuzzy flying bison. "Hey! We weren't done yet!"

Aang didn't really care. He'd been doing pretty much nothing but drilling with Katara and Toph since they reached the Fire Nation, with only that brief respite in the school to break up the monotony. Aang beheld an extremely bright looking Sokka approaching with a spring in his step. As he reached them, he pulled out a folded map and handed it to his sister. "There you go. One map of the Gates of Azulon, printed up less than two weeks ago."

"Well, you're certainly in a good mood," Katara pointed out.

"I got into an Agni Kai," Sokka said brightly.

"What?" All three shouted at once. Sokka nodded.

"Yup. I won," he said.

"How did you... Why were..." Katara tried to pick a question. She settled on. "When did this happen?"

"Last night," he said.

"And where have you been since then? And where's Ty Lee?" she asked. Sokka just grinned. Toph began to laugh hysterically.

"I do believe our Loverboy has finally earned his title," she declared.

"Did I ever," Sokka claimed proudly. Toph walked up and slugged him in the arm hard enough to almost knock him over.

"Attaboy, Sokka," she said. Then, she stopped, her grin dropping away and her face serious. She leaned down, flattening a scarred hand to the dirt. "Somebody else is out there."

"Is it..."

"It's not Sugarqueen," Toph said.

"You were followed?" Aang asked. Sokka shook his head. "Do you think we can stop him?"

"I wouldn't dare. Those people would notice if one went missing," Katara said. Sokka pondered, rubbing his chin.

"I've got an idea, and this might sound a bit crazy," he said. Everybody waited for him. "I think its time that we all get killed."

Toph just stared at him. "Oh, this is gonna be a good one."

* * *

Chen was gathered with the rest of the soldiers at the gate house. Wang Fire had hung back, talking to his wife briefly before coming to the group. "Feeling better, young fellow?" Wang Fire asked. Chen just seethed, but he had more important things to worry about.

"We've got a big problem," he said. "The companions of the Avatar are alive, and here on our island. I saw them with my own eyes."

"I suspected as much. That is why I came here," Wang Fire said, stroking his chin, probably not remembering that it no longer bore a beard. He turned to the base commander. "With your permission, I would like to lead the men out to destroy this threat to our Nation."

"What? Why would you do that?" he asked.

"I am probably the only man here who has fought with the Avatar and lived to tell the tale," he said. "I know the tricks of those who traveled with him."

The base commander pondered for a moment. "Then I shall have to defer to you. Would anyone like to volunteer?" he asked. Chen stepped forward at once. This would be the opportunity of a lifetime, to destroy those who had sided with the Avatar once and for all. Four others did as well. Goh did as well, but since he wasn't a firebender, he was ignored. "Good. Follow Wang Fire's orders, and may Agni bless us all on this day."

All bowed their heads, Wang Fire included, then the man pulled on his coat and walked down the hills. "Do you think we'll be enough?" one of the other firebenders asked.

"With me here, I don't doubt it for an instant," Wang Fire said confidently. He looked at Chen. "Show them the way."

Chen moved ahead of the rest, to that cave in the upper island. The pain had receded from his... injury, but he still couldn't help but shoot hateful glances at the nominal leader of this little expedition. Strange, how many years that beard had given Wang Fire's looks. The group came to the mouth of the cave, and Fire brought them to a stop. "We should attack!" Chen whispered.

"Perhaps not yet," Wang Fire said. "Give them a chance to surrender honorably, then... if all else fails, we destroy them."

Chen had to see Fire's point. Honor was important. Wang Fire stepped to the mouth of the cave and shouted into it, in some language that Chen didn't understand. He waited. Then, a block of stone flew at Wang Fire, and the man had to dive to one side to avoid being smashed to a pulp.

"I guess that's our answer!" Chen said. "Charge!"

Wang Fire led that charge. They all pushed into the cave, but found they were assaulted from every angle. The stone attacked them, until Wang Fire pressed ahead and a flare of light erupted. The stone ceased briefly. "Come on! We can't let up the pressure!" Fire shouted. Chen followed, surging behind them, hurling out his fire into the tunnels. Sometimes, he could just see it illuminating something before it snuffed out. They were still here.

"Hold the line!" Chen shouted. Wang Fire, though, moved ahead, pounding out bursts of flame. They weren't even as big as Chen's own, but they seemed to be doing the trick. Chen moved to support the man, but a strange shape moved out of the darkness. A column of water, as thick as his leg, smashing him onto his back. He got up quickly, and surged, the others moving with him.

"Is that the best that you can do?" Wang Fire taunted. A block of stone hurled toward him, and he nimbly sidestepped it. It was apparent why he'd won the Agni Kai; he was just very, very good at not getting hit by things. Fire blasted forward again. Chen saw an opening, and began to move again, rushing forward to Wang Fire's side. The older man gave the younger a look of consternation. Well, tough luck. Chen was going to get the glory today. He punched out a column of flame which raked along the walls of the cavern.

Out of the very rock came a tiny form, a short woman with badly burned arms. She punched upward, and Chen felt something slam up into him, all of the air being smashed out of his lungs. He was thrown back. "Everybody hold the line!" Wang Fire's voice came to Chen. He felt somebody grab the collar of his armor, and he was being dragged away. No! He had to stay with the fight. He was let to drop with the others. "Bravado like that will just get you killed," Wang Fire said. He looked at the others. "Don't let them escape. I'll deal with them myself."

Wang Fire turned and ran into that maelstrom. No armor. No backup. Questionable firebending. The very cave began to rumble and twist, and the roof began to crumble, collapsing down and driving the firebenders back. The entire cave was giving way. Chen felt the motivation to put his feet under him, and he began to tear across the stone, as the entire cave fell down in waves. They all burst forth into the hills as the rumbling ended. They all looked amongst each other. There were a few minutes of panting, of exhaustion seeping away.

"Is it over?"

"Nobody could have survived that."

"Did we win?"

Chen shook his head. He wasn't sure. Sapphire came running to the scene, and when she saw that her husband wasn't among those gathered, she let out a horrible wail, falling to the earth. One of the men moved to comfort her.

"Don't be sad, my lady," Chen said, standing before her. "Your husband died a true hero, to his name, and to the Fire Nation.

"But what about my children?" she asked, her eyes damp.

"They will be cared for," a soldier said. The others nodded grimly. But she looked past them all, to the cave, and her expression changed from heartbroken grief to manic excitement. All eyes turned back to the cave. Crawling out of the rubble, covered from head to foot in mud and dirt, was Wang Fire.

"You're alive!" they cried. Wang Fire smiled unsteadily.

"It takes more than a cave-in to kill Wang Fire!" even his voice was unsteady. He leaned against a tree, breathing deep. Everybody stared at him like he had entered a man, and exited a god. Even Chen.

"And the Avatar's companions?" Chen asked.

Wang Fire held up one hand. In it, a curved crook of blue metal, used by the Tribesman. In his other, he held two jewels. One was an extremely fine jade, a possession of the earthbender, and the other, a blue soapstone necklace, signature of the waterbender. Chen moved to examine them, but Wang Fire closed his hand around them.

"No. They are to remind me," he said. Miss Fire finally moved and tucked herself under her husband's arm, supporting him. "Tell the base commander to send word. The companions of the Avatar are dead. And for that, I am deeply sorry. I thought I could have taken them alive."

"Nobody is perfect," Chen said. The man shot an annoyed glare at him.

"Not all men are Wang Fire!" he said. "Come. We have much to do. I wish to see my children again. To tell them of this glorious day."

Chan couldn't help but stare in awe as Wang Fire, the living legend, walked away.

* * *

"I can't believe that worked," Aang admitted, bending the cloud around Appa's head.

"Are we even certain _that_ it worked?" Toph asked.

"I've got a way with people," Sokka said, proudly. "They were eating it up with a spoon."

Ty Lee seemed downright sedate, today, a way which Katara had never seen her. A part of Katara still wanted to distrust her, but she knew that it would take more power than a dozen Appa's to pull the two of them apart. She just really hoped that her brother wasn't listening to his heart at the expense of his brain.

"I can't believe we're all dead," Toph said. She grinned. "How cool is that? Mom must be losing her frickin' mind!"

"Toph, you shouldn't be that way toward your mother," Katara said, running her fingers along the betrothal necklace which usually rested in her pouch.

"Don't get all preachy on me, Sweetness," Toph said. "You know how things are in my family."

"I just wish I could have accepted that reward of all of our deaths," Sokka said. "All that money would have come in very handy."

Toph very slowly turned toward Sokka. "You. Didn't. Accept. The reward?" she said.

"It didn't seem like something Wang Fire would do," Sokka said, gamely. Toph threw back her head and screamed wordlessly into the air.

"I can't believe you'd do that!" she shouted.

"It was to protect our cover," Sokka said. "Besides, we'll manage. I've just got that feeling."

"Great. Loverboy's got a feeling," Toph muttered. Katara smiled, shaking her head.

"So where are we going to go now?" Aang asked.

"I'm exhausted," Toph said.

"Me too," Katara admitted. Trying very hard to not hit Sokka during that 'raid' was a task and a half, considering all the other firebenders involved. "I just want to go to some place where I can sit back, relax, and let all of my weary muscles work themselves out."

Ty Lee finally stirred, her eyes popping open. "I know just the place!" she said, sitting up. "We're close to Lesser Ember. Most folks just call it Ember Island. It's nice and open, the weather's almost always nice, and it has some of the nicest scenery in the Ember principalities," she turned to Sokka. "It's nice and romantic," she said.

"Lesser Ember," Sokka said without hesitation.

"Get a boat, you two," Toph said.

"Don't you mean 'get a room'?" Katara asked.

"If they were just in another room, I could still see them," Toph pointed out. "Thus, get a boat."

"You know, I think we do deserve a little vacation," Aang said, a smile on his face. "We're all _dead_. What's the worst that can happen to us?"

* * *

Jee chuckled to himself as he walked away from the garrison. If he hadn't known Sokka as well as he had come to, he wouldn't have believed it himself. When he started, he was just 'a journalist', seeing if he could salvage some damage control for a bad situation. It turned out, the boy had already done better. Jee couldn't help but shake his head.

There were more rumors he needed to circulate. Wang Fire won an Agni Kai without using a single bolt of flame. Dead true; he wagered he'd never see its like if he lived to be a hundred. Wang Fire fought the companions of the Avatar, alone, and was the only one to walk out alive. Also, as far as anybody else knew, true. Sokka might have claimed that Jee had gone a bit mad claiming the things that he did, but Sokka had just turned around and made some of the bigger ones true. Jee stepped onto the transport, and seated himself, waiting for the long trip to Sozin City. He had a lot of time to prepare.

And that was a good thing, because he had big plans for a certain Wang Fire, Hero of the Fire Nation.

* * *

**And this wasn't even character pandering. By Canon, Sokka was getting nookie at the age of fifteen, although that canon was coached in a very clever visual pun. During the Southern Raiders, Sokka is obviously waiting for a liason, and the day afterwards, he is seen fiddling around with a flower necklace. To shamelessly steal a pun from TV Tropes, our boy Sokka just got lei'd. Come to think of it, he's not the only one to get horizontal during the series. The infamous 'fruit tart' during Nightmares and Daydreams springs to mind for Zuko and Mai. Mai get's everybody to leave her and her paramour alone, and the next day, the're shown a little mussed up, and wearing the same clothes. Read between the lines and all that.**

**The only difference now is that I'm not much for line-between-readage. Ironic, considering I accidentally put foreshadowing to a Toph based revelation in the previous book before I even knew that I was going to do it.**


	5. The Beach

**My favorite chapter so far, based on one of my favorite episodes of season three. When I saw this one, I finally understood for the first time what Azula was. She was cold, calculating, brutally intelligent, and no small bit sadistic... but it was because she had been made that way. She wasn't rotten to the core. If she had been, her fall at the end wouldn't have been nearly so precipititous nor as swift. She was a thin shell of control over a tortured (literally) being.**

**Also: some gentle foreshadowing comes right to the forefront here. In two directions, actually. One of them is going to land in another four chapters, the other, a little bit later. Big stuff.**

* * *

"You weren't kidding when you said Appa sheds," Ty Lee said, stretching out in a massive pile of sloughed fur. "It's so soft and fuzzy."

"It's also great for making wigs," Aang pointed out, with a ridiculous white coif bundled together atop his head.

"And beards!" Sokka added, with a replica of his 'Wang Fire' beard, however this one white, on his face. Ty Lee looked up at Katara.

"Aren't you going to join in?" she asked.

"No, because you people are disgusting," she said lightly. "I really thought having more girls in this group might curb this sort of behavior."

"Pardon me, does anybody here have a razor?" Toph asked. She raised her arms, an huge bushels of Appa's hair flopped out from her underarms. "'Cause I've got some hairy pits!"

Everybody burst into laughter at that, and even Katara couldn't keep stoic, joining in quietly. It was nice to be able to just relax, enjoy themselves for a few days. Of course, that had been before Appa became listless and just spent its time curled up in a ball in the shade. Aang panicked, of course, but she knew that the beast was just a little under the weather. He'd gotten the same way after being in the rain for a week in the Earth Kingdoms. And if that meant that a few days on Ember Island turned into a week, well, Sokka's precious schedule would just have to accommodate that.

"I'm going to make a mattress out of this," Ty Lee said, and began gathering up the fur. "Wouldn't this be soft and comfortable?"

"Softer than sleeping on rocks," Sokka agreed. Her gathering was cut short when a silver bird flapped its way down into the center of the party, landing on the saddle which had been lifted off of Appa's back. It stared around with its red eyes, cooing lightly. When Ty Lee heard it, she dropped what she was doing and ran over, leaning close and staring at the bird.

"What is it?" Aang asked. She reached out and the pigeon rat hopped onto her hand. Her expression became one of unbridled delight, and she pulled a document from a case on its back.

"Mai sent me a letter!" she squealed with delight, bouncing around even as she read. Katara didn't know how anybody could read while doing a backflip, but Ty Lee seemed to manage. Everybody else got a bit tense.

"What does it say?" Sokka asked.

"They're coming here," she said, a grin on her face. "Tomorrow!" Everybody gave a clipped shout of alarm. She looked around, confused, before the gravity of the situation dawned on her. She stopped, and her head hung. "Right. They're coming here, tomorrow."

"What are we going to do?" Aang asked. Ty Lee looked back up, smiling.

"Just stay out of sight. I'll keep them all busy. They still like me, and I'm not dead," she said. She ran over and began hugging each of the furry jokers in turn. "I'll be back in a day or so. Make sure Appa stays nice and cozy for me!"

Katara rolled her eyes, but watched as the acrobat gathered up her sparse belongings. Which wasn't much. Just a small bag of clothing, a tiny purse of money, and a metal staff, before walking away. She paused only briefly to wave at them before she went up over the rocks and out of sight. When Katara turned back, the others were still waving at her. Even Toph. "Well, come on, we're here for a few more days. We might as well enjoy ourselves," Katara said.

* * *

Zuko fumed. He did that a lot these days. More and more, that rage he felt began to well up at the worst times, and he had to retreat to some place where he wouldn't be around people. He was starting to be afraid of himself. He stared out over the waters from the back of the sea-lion hauled palanquin, a luxury few families could afford. Few but his, anyway. "I can't believe we've just been foisted off to the sticks," Zuko said. Mai rolled her eyes, but said nothing.

"If Father wants to converse with his war ministers in private, then that's his prerogative," Azula said. "It's not like he did it as an intentional snub on you. After all, _I'm_ here too, aren't I?"

Zuko stared at the island as it approached. It was an irregularly shaped spit of land, with beaches that seemed to stretch on forever, punctuated by a spot near the North Side which looked, as Uncle would have said 'like a miniature version of the Pillars of Heaven'. Uncle. Just thinking about him made that rage ramp higher. Was he furious with Uncle? He wasn't even sure anymore. "It's been so long since we came here," he turned to his sister. "Do you remember how many winters we came here, back when we were kids?"

"I remember how dull they were," Azula said. She leaned on the rail as the palanquin reached the docks. "Now, how could this be possible?"

"What?" Mai asked.

Zuko saw what his sister was talking about. Standing at the docks were not the ancient pedagogues Lo and Li, whose tiny cabin they were to inhabit. No, instead, standing in her pinks and frills, with a big grin on her face, was Ty Lee. When the vessel came close, before even properly docking, the acrobat bounded up onto the deck and wrapped Zuko into a hug which he probably couldn't have gotten out of if he tried.

"I missed you all so much!" she declared. She then moved on to Mai, who accepted the rib-shifting embrace with little more than a bemused sigh and a pat on the back. She then went to Azula, but Azula tried to back away. It was a losing battle though, and Ty Lee got her hug. Azula didn't look comfortable receiving it.

"What are you doing here?" Azula asked.

"I felt like coming home," Ty Lee said. "I missed Ember."

Azula raised an eyebrow, but Ty Lee motioned for the teenagers to follow in her wake. Mai and Zuko shared a look, then followed. She only stooped to pick up a bag of her things and a long metal walking stick before moving to the building. Just inside the tiny hut, barely more than a shack, were the ancient teachers, who both bowed low when the royal siblings entered.

"Welcome to Ember Island, kids," Lo and Li said in unison. It was a habit they had that Zuko quite frankly found creepy. The only one creepier was how they finished each other's sentences. Zuko looked around. His nose curled.

"It smells like old lady in here," he muttered.

"I can't imagine why," Mai said, walking in behind him. She shook her head. "Look at this place. All this color... It's like the beach threw up in here."

"I'm sorry, but not everything can be dull and grey for you," Azula said, last one in. Ty Lee looked like she was about to bust a seam with joy. She put down the pillow she'd been hugging and moved over to a painting next to the wall.

"Who are these lovely ladies?" she asked, pointing at the identical women in a provocative pose. Lo and Li stood before the poster.

"Oh, you don't know?"

"That's Li/Lo and me," Lo and Li said, emulating the pose. Zuko suppressed a gag.

"I suppose this will have to suffice," Azula said, staring haughtily at the dwelling. "Although Father could just open up our house..."

"And who would do that? All the servants are at the palace," Zuko snarked. "Looks like you're stuck with all the rest of us."

"We understand that you're upset that you've been sent away by your father."

"But this place has a magical effect on people. It can smooth even the roughest edges," Lo and Li said. In unison, they continued. "Give it a chance, and I'm sure you'll find that it reveals and purifies your souls."

Azula rolled her eyes hard.

* * *

They couldn't have been a stranger group. Ty Lee was, once again, out at the front of the pack, carrying the lion-turtle's share of their things. That confused Zuko a bit. Usually, everybody made sure to fob that sort of activity onto him. She was also wearing a bathing suit which was utterly unsuited for its stated purpose, so scandalously skimpy that any contact with water would probably unravel it away.

Azula seemed to fall into the middle of the spectrum. Her beach clothes seemed good enough to double as swimming clothes if the need occurred. As if Azula would _ever_ swim willingly. It exposed his sister's midriff, but for some reason, she was wearing detached sleeves, covering her forearms and elbows. Mai, on the other hand, was downright conservative in her dress. Who else but Mai would wear a long skirt to the beach? The only real acknowledgment to the heat and season was a top which somewhat bore her midriff, and unlike his sister, bared her arms.

Seeing Mai in that outfit actually excited Zuko a bit. It was a bad habit, probably brought on by the fact that he'd found himself attracted to an Azuli woman; most men were aroused by a flash of cleavage or a sparkling set of eyes. What did Zuko in, nowadays, was the sight of bare arms and legs. Of course, it was probably because he understood perfectly the implications that those held for Mai.

What made the whole thing ridiculous? Zuko and Mai were under an umbrella. Agni was shining high in the sky, but Mai's fair skin and Zuko's... disfigurement left each of them unwilling to brave the searing heat. But they were close together, and Zuko got a lot of comfort from that. Azula's eyes scanned the beach, and found a perfect spot. It was currently playing host to several children, building sand fortresses. Unfortunately for those children, the woman who brought down Ba Sing Se had no patience for walls, be they of stone or sand. She stomped on the castle, her gaze frightening the children away, then kicked the castle down.

"Typical," Mai said flatly.

"I know," Zuko responded. Ty Lee looked around, and in a heartbeat, there was an enamored young man standing next to her.

"Can I help you unpack your things?" he asked. Ty Lee smiled at him and foist the bags onto him. He immediately began to dig through them, until he reached the bright pink towel and dutifully set it out on the sand for her. She leaned back with a grin. "Anything else?"

She frowned upward for a moment. "Um... could you move just a little to the left?" she asked. He did as she said, and then she winked at him. He was now providing her with a little bit of shade. "Thanks!"

Azula looked at Ty Lee, then cleared her throat. "Wouldn't you like to unpack _my_ things?" she demanded. Nobody looked at her. He expected her to get angry, but instead, she got an odd look on her face. Jealousy? When was Azula ever jealous of anybody? Zuko leaned back under the umbrella he planted in the sand. Mai was leaning against him. He looked over and spotted an interesting looking sea shell. When he picked it up, he couldn't help but remember a year ago and more, on Bakemano Island, when they washed ashore in that boat.

"Look at all of these interesting shells!" Uncle had said, even as he was starving and no small bit dehydrated. "I should remember to bring some of them along as cherished keepsakes."

"We don't have time for shell collecting," Zuko had muttered. "The Avatar is still out there and he has full run of the North. What are we going to do, Uncle?"

"Rest," he answered, looking back. "Believe it or not, Prince Zuko, you can push yourself too far and too hard in your quest. Do not let this become an obsession, or it will consume you, leaving nothing behind but a husk filled with hatred," he paused, setting one particular shell back down. A creature quickly scuttled up to it an hid inside. Uncle smiled. "Come. I wonder if they would be willing to serve an old man some tea up in that house?"

Zuko looked at the shell in his hand and leaned over to Mai. "Here," he said. "This is for you."

Mai looked down at it, and annoyance crossed her features. "And why would I want that?" she asked.

"Because it was pretty and I thought you'd like it," she just rolled her eyes and looked away. That rage swelled. "FINE!"

Zuko threw the shell away, and it bounced off of a young man burly enough to look like an earthbender. He turned, seeing Zuko, and picked up the shell. But then, he noticed Ty Lee, and made a straight line for _her_, instead. "This is for you," the big youth said.

"Aaaaw, that's so sweet," Ty Lee said, accepting the shell with a wide smile.

"That shell's not so great!" the first one shouted, stepping closer. Ty Lee shielded her eyes.

"Um, shade?" she asked. He moved back into his position. Zuko rose, smacking some sand off of his clothing. Today was already interminable. He only real comfort was that Mai was here with him. She hadn't had to come. She could have stayed behind in Sozin City. He walked over to a vendor and bought some cold treats, then returned to his girlfriend.

"You looked hot, so I got you one of these..." Zuko said, holding the cone of ice cream toward her. The scoop fell out and splatted onto her lap. She looked down at it, her eyes dull.

"Thanks," she said flatly. "That's very refreshing."

In his hand, his own cone flashed into steam. He looked at his hand. Had he just firebent without even realizing it? What would Uncle say about that? Zuko clenched his fist, and the last over-baked crumbles of the cone fell away. Mai already got up and went back to the house to change her skirt. He just stared out at the beach.

"Why am I so bad at being _good_?" He asked, and not for the first time. Just like before, everything good he tried to do for others kept blowing up in his face, and usually hurting them in the process. It was like the entire universe was out to make him, personally, miserable, and had been for some time. He looked at the beach, and he spotted his sister. When he did, that rage started to abate. Not because of any filial feelings between them. He still trusted her about as far as he could swing a sword, but for some reason... she looked different today.

She stared at Ty Lee with a look in her eyes that Zuko had never seen before. It wasn't jealousy, not exactly. It wasn't anger, which she had fairly frequently, nor calculation, nor apathy, nor cold, cruel amusement. It was like hunger. She sat alone, on the white towel she had to lay out for herself, as Ty Lee quickly, and effortlessly, assembled an entourage of very willing young men to fan her and provide her with all the amenities Ember Island had to offer. And Azula? She was ignored as thoroughly as she had ever been in her life. Despite years of experience telling him not to, Zuko rose and went to his sister's side.

"You don't look so great," Zuko said. And it was true. Azula didn't look the perfect princess for once. She looked... tired? He couldn't explain it. He leaned over slightly, looking at what he'd caught only passing glimpses of. For some reason, scar tissue peeked out around her beach-wear, on the backs her shoulders and the small of her back. _Lots _of scar tissue. She glared at him.

"I could say the same about you, but then again, you have an excuse, don't you?" she sneered. Zuko turned away. Of course she'd bring up his scar. She glanced to one side, where a bunch of people were playing Kuai Ball. She smirked. "Come on, beach bums. We're playing next. Ty Lee! Get over here!"

Ty Lee looked up from the virile young men who were essentially worshiping her and hand-walked over to them. Mai came down the beach and noticed them together. "What is this, now?"

"We're playing a game," Zuko said flatly as he pulled off his shirt. Nearby, a group of teenage girls pointed at him and giggled. That rage drew tighter. Hotter.

"Great," Mai said, with all the emotion of a piece of wood.

* * *

Ty Lee loved playing Kuai Ball. She knew that from the first time she tried it. Which was today, funnily enough. Azula had taken them aside as the game began, and told them to always drive to the left of the girl with pigtails. Doing that, they'd managed to obliterate the other team; the only point they'd had was when Ty Lee was showing off and landed astride the net, which was a foul and gave them a point. The last point was delivered by Azula, who did... something firebendy to the ball, because when it landed, it exploded into a ball of fire and sand and the net burst into flames.

"Yes! We have won! You have been defeated for all time and you will _NEVER_ rise from the ashes of your shame and humiliation!" Azula shouted, her eyes wide and ravenous. Mai and Zuko shared a look. Ty Lee put her hand on Azula's shoulder, and the Princess flinched away for a moment before recognizing who was touching her. Her expression went from one of mania to simple smugness. "Right. That was fun."

Ty Lee was worried. Azula seemed a bit... out of control. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"I've won. Of course I'm alright," Azula said. She broke off as a handsome looking fellow approached her. Well, Ty Lee actually. She recognized him; he was the youth that Aang had those problems with in the Fire Academy. What was his name again? He actually interposed himself between the two women.

"You were looking good out there," he said, a smile on his face. "You know, I'm having a party tonight. You should come."

"I love parties!" Ty Lee laughed. Azula did not look impressed. Another young man, his hair long and falling in front of his face, gave a glance to Mai, who was idly and covertly checking to see that her knives were still in place. They moved like they were the baddest dudes around, but Ty Lee knew that Sokka could whup them solid. He was better looking, too.

"Your attractive friend can come to," the other said. Azula's non-impressedness turned into outright scowling.

"What about us?" she asked, indicating her and her brother.

"Oh, we don't need any adult chaperons," the first said. "It's not that kind of party."

Zuko stared, agog. "Adult? I'm only one year older than her!" he said, pointing to his girlfriend. But Ty Lee could see where somebody might make that mistake. Not many Fire Nation teenagers could pull off a beard.

Azula frowned. "You don't have any idea who we are, do you?" she asked.

"Should we?" the second asked. He stood beside the first. He looked at Zuko and Azula for a moment, then shrugged. "We're Ruon Jian and Hide. If you want to come to the party so much, then be our guests. But remember that some of the most important teenagers in the Fire Nation are going to be there so... try to act normal."

Ty Lee grinned to her friends. "PARTY!" she said. "Party party party party..."

"Get ahold of yourself," Azula said as the two teenagers were walking away. "Yes. We will attend this party. We will be perfect guests. We will be punctual, we will be interesting, and we will be the life of the party!"

"Is Azula always like this?" Zuko asked.

"How would I know?" Mai answered flatly. But Ty Lee was already off, heading back to Lo and Li's shack, where she'd left her clothing. She quickly picked out something, and tried it on. A bit less revealing than her swimsuit, but it would do nicely. She stopped, and looked out the window. For just a moment, she wondered what the hell she was doing. Aang and Sokka and the rest were out there, resting next to a sick sky bison, and she was going to a party. Well, she reminded herself, there wasn't much she could do about that. And besides, Azula needed her. Now, more than ever it seemed.

The others returned a few minutes later, and their benefactors began serving a late lunch. Zuko and Mai sat next to each other, of course, while Ty Lee sat next to Azula. The old twins sat opposite each other. She started eating as soon as the food was down. Most people were surprised at her appetite, but she didn't sleep much and she was an active girl. All that food just sort of vanished. Zuko was eating in silence for a long time. Just experimentally, Ty Lee looked at her old friend, gazing deeper. Into his aura.

Blue. She dropped her chopsticks a moment out of shock. His had never been blue before. Blue was the color of rage. Of destruction. She looked over to Azula, still in that deep gazing way, and saw the same in Azula. But hers, although no less blue was... faded. Like it wasn't entirely there anymore. That was how she knew Azula needed her. There were only two kinds of people who didn't have auras: the dead, and those who were insane. And as people lost sanity and clarity, their auras began to dissolve away. She screwed her courage to the sticking place. She had to be strong for them.

"Why didn't you tell them who we were?" Zuko asked suddenly. Mai just shifted from where she was leaning against him, to give him a glance.

"I was... intrigued," Azula said. "I mean, most of the time, everybody is so busy worshiping us..."

"Which they should," Ty Lee said. Azula smiled then, just the quickest flash of the lips, but it resonated right down into her aura.

"Of course they should, and I love it. But for once, maybe I just want to see what it's like to be a face in the crowd. To see how these people treat us without knowing what we've accomplished."

Mai chuckled. "How many sixteen year olds have taken over a continent?" she asked.

"Precisely!" Azula said.

The old teachers nodded across to each other. "Like the waves wash away the prints of footfalls in the sand..."

"Ember Island will reveal the truths within your souls," Lo and Li said. Both rose, and made a exuberant gesture usually only done by teenagers.

"To the party!" they said as one.

* * *

Dark fingers reached into the dirt, feeling it crumble between them. He was born a very long way away, but dirt was dirt, and it always revealed its secrets to him. He turned to his companion. The firebender was perpetually silent, which worked for him. He had nothing that Gahj Muul wanted to hear, and made no bones about it. Besides, Muul could tell that this was a man for whom actions – and in his case, those actions tended to be explosions – always spoke louder than words.

The firebender walked to one side, looking up at the sky. A discordant cry filled the air as a hideous vulture hawk descended, landing on his metal arm. Muul moved closer as the firebender pulled something out of the bird's cruel beak. It was a tuft of white hair. Muul felt it. No, not hair. Fur. Long, white fur.

"He's here," Muul said. The man with the blazing third eye nodded, his face still and expressionless. Muul couldn't restrain the smirk, however. "I'm coming for you, Bandit."

* * *

Azula looked around the party. Ty Lee had been right. Arriving 'fashionably late' was a sound political maneuver. Late enough to not seem desperate, to not be the first ones beating down the door, but not so late as to appear lackadaisical and insulting to the perceived worth of the party-thrower. She would make a cunning woman out of Ty Lee someday. Maybe. For some reason, she didn't want to think about the fact that Ty Lee would probably be leaving again soon.

"Well, this is my party," Hide said, waving around him. He gave a glance toward Zuko but then turned back to the ladies. "Now, Chen doesn't know that we're here and his father's an admiral, so we can't mess anything up!"

Ty Lee was already wandering around, having walked away half way through his spiel. Azula felt a compulsion to try something that she'd always heard Ty Lee and Mai talk about, but never had an opportunity to try herself. "That outfit of yours is sharp," Azula said. "It's so sharp that it could pierce the hull of an Empire class battleship, causing it to swamp and capsize, leaving a thousand men to die at sea!"

He stared at her.

"Because... it's so sharp," she finished. He just raised an eyebrow and walked away. Strange. It didn't have the effect she thought it would. This wasn't as easy as the others made it seem.

"Am _I_ that bad?" Zuko asked.

"Not usually," Mai said flatly. Azula fumed. How dare they mock her! She moved toward Ty Lee, but found the girl had already gotten herself pulled aside by the large fellow she'd seduced into fanning her earlier. Azula leaned against a pole that supported the roof, and thought very dark thoughts about a certain acrobat.

"I was wondering when you were going to arrive," Ruon Jian said. Azula looked up, but was once more infuriated when she saw he wasn't talking to her. Instead, he was speaking to Mai. Zuko looked just about as furious as she felt. He held his tongue until the attractive, un-scarred man walked away.

"Thinks he's so great," Zuko muttered. He turned to his woman. "Well? What do you think of him?"

"I don't _care_. I hardly know him," Mai pointed out flatly. She walked away. Zuko stared at her back.

"You want him, don't you?" he asked. At least Azula wasn't being as paranoid as her brother. That would be a devastating showcase of weakness that she couldn't bear to ponder. That sort of paranoia frightened Grandfather into indolence in his later years. She thought back, to one of the first memories she had of Azulon, the man for whom she was named.

She was seven, already two years a firebender. She stared across the garden at her mother and Zuko. He was playing with her, as he often did. She _never_ came over here anymore. Never went to Azula. Of course not. Everybody knew that Ursa didn't love Azula. Even Father knew it, though he had been so reluctant to say it. Reluctant, but he knew that his daughter had to know the truth. So she sat next to the pond, throwing crumbs to the turtle ducks. The tiny ducklings paddled up and gobbled them down. It brought a smile to her young face.

"What are you doing?" Father asked her. She looked up, surprised to find him standing next to her. Azulon was also there, standing at the threshold, watching her.

"I'm feeding the turtle ducks," she said. Father scowled.

"Why?"

"Because they're hungry," Azula answered. They certainly seemed hungry.

"And if you were to stop feeding them, what would happen?" he asked.

"I don't know... they'd go hungry?" she attempted.

"They would move on, and eat something else," Father said. He leaned down beside her and quickly grabbed a duckling by its shell, holding it so it flailed its little feet into the air. "The only reason that they come to you is because they know that they can use you. To give them the things that they want. They approach you for no other reason."

"But Zuko says..."

"Your brother is wrong," Father interrupted, without even hearing the whole of her complaint. And with perfect surety. "Azula, my daughter, when you get older, you are going to realize that people are just like the beasts of the forest. Like the turtle ducks in this pond. They will approach you, insinuate themselves into your life, and take things from you. They will parasitize and vampirise you until you have nothing left that they want, then they will cast you aside. That is the nature of the beasts that we share our world with."

"But what about my friends?" she asked.

"Why do you think they've befriended you?" Father asked. "Was it because you have such a _shining disposition_ or was it... because your father was a Prince?"

"But she didn't know that until I told her," Azula complained. Father silenced her with a look.

"Or she wished you to believe she did," Father said. He looked at the creature in his hand. "The relationships you have will always be thus, the manipulator and the subservient. The parasite and the prey. But they can work for you as well. They will ask you to trust them. That is a trap. Trust is what the weak exchange because they lack strength. You must be better than that. You must be perfect. Can you be perfect, Azula?"

"Yes, Father," she said, glancing toward her mother. "I can try."

"Don't _try_," Father said. "And remember what I told you. Remember what you are to them. You are a free meal, a road to their own power. Nothing more."

Father rose, throwing the duckling aside casually. It landed on its back, helpless. She moved to pick it up, but she saw Azulon was still watching her. She backed away. This was a test. She turned, picking up a rock and hurling it into the pond, scattering the creatures. They would never abuse her trust again. Nobody would.

"So you do you know Ty Lee?"

"I met her first!"

"Yeah, but she likes me best. Don't you?"

"Um, I'm not comfortable being put into this position," Ty Lee said. Azula looked over, and saw that the boys she had ensorcelled with her wiles had surrounded her, pressing her into a corner.

"Who do you like best, Ty Lee?" One pressed.

"None of you, alright! Just give me some space!" He moved forward a bit, and then pitched over backwards. The others began to wilt and tumble away, leaving Ty Lee glancing about, before she quietly flipped over their paralyzed forms. Ty Lee's Dim Mak in action. Sheepishly, she moved to Azula's side. "I'm glad you're here," she said, playing with her fingers. "I guess those boys just liked me too much."

"Oh, come on," Azula said, rolling her eyes. "Even you can't be that dense. The only reason they were hounding around you is because you made it so easy for them. Instead of making them work for affection, you made a slut of yourself and teased them. It's not like they actually cared about you."

Ty Lee's expression shifted, her lip quivering and her eyes filling with tears. Azula felt something... shift... inside her. Like she'd just seen one of her plans go horribly, horribly wrong, but it wasn't quite that. She did something _wrong_. "How could you say that?" Ty Lee asked, her voice breaking. "After everything we've been through, how could you be that _mean_?"

Everything. She tried to put Father's lesson at the front of her mind, but for some reason, it kept falling to the wayside, swept away by Ty Lee's tears. Azula stepped forward, setting a hand on the acrobat's shoulder. "I'm... sorry," she said. "It's just that... it comes so easy to you. I'm a bit jealous."

She dried her eyes, looking up into Azula's eyes. "Jealous?" she asked, trying to master her voice. Only the occasional quiver showed that she had almost erupted into full blown weeping. "But why would you be jealous? You're the most perfect, beautiful, smart, dangerous woman in the entire Fire Nation!"

Azula nodded. "All true, but... When I try to talk to boys, they act as though I'm going to do something horrible to them."

"That's probably because you would do something horrible to them," Ty Lee said, burying one last sob that almost broke through. She centered herself, and took Azula to one side of the room. It was like old times, when Ty Lee was a friend so close, that if Father had known the extent of it, he probably would have banished her. "I think the boys are just intimidated by you. You shouldn't hold yourself the way you do. You look like you're always staring down at them. And you should be more sweet with your voice, instead of ordering people around. They don't like that. And try not to do that thing with your eyes that you don't know about when somebody says something you don't like," thing with her eyes? "Oh, and be sure to laugh when he's making a joke, even if it's not very funny."

"That seems superficial and stupid," Azula said. "And it will probably work."

Ty Lee brightened up a bit, and pointed through the crowd. "See Hide? I hear his girlfriend just broke up with him, so he should be a good one to try it out on!"

"Thank you," Azula said. She walked over to Hide, but half way there, she remembered what Ty Lee said, and let her posture slip a bit, walking like she was about half asleep. It must have worked, because when she approached, Hide didn't immediately go into a rigid state of fear, as usually happened. "Hide, I think it's time you 'showed me around the house'."

Hide smiled, and handed off his drink to a woman he was talking to. She didn't look too impressed with the snub, but Azula cared about as much as she did about turtle ducks. He took her around the house, showing her all of the things he didn't really own as though trying to impress her with them. When he said something she guessed was a joke, she let out a titter of laughter, and he kept going. Eventually, they found themselves on the porch overlooking the beach. Hide leaned forward, staring over the water.

"So, is this your first time to Ember Island?" he asked.

"No, I used to come all the time with my goon of an older brother when we were children," she said. Hide smirked.

"It's a great place if you like sand," he gestured around him. "Welcome to Sand Island!"

She laughed at that, even though it definitely wasn't funny. She moved a bit closer. "Your arms look strong," she said, hoping that it was a worthwhile compliment. He smiled, flexing his bicep.

"Yeah, I know," he said. He moved closer to her, and she had to school herself not to pull away. She could smell his breath. It smelled like whatever he had for dinner. He kissed her then, and she had no idea how to react. So she just tried to emulate him. If she didn't adapt, she could never become powerful. "You know, you're really pretty."

Azula pulled back, and a smirk came to her face. She ignited azure balls of fire into her hands. "You and I will be the most powerful couple in the Fire Nation! Our children will rule the entire world!"

Hide stared at her, his face completely empty. He listlessly pointed to his side. "I've got to go and do... something," he said, and quickly ducked back into the house. She failed. How could she fail? She was perfect! Everything she did had to be perfect! EVERYTHING!

Nobody will ever love you.

Azula turned and smashed out a fist, and felt that rage tearing apart the energy inside her. It shot up her arm and erupted into a thunderbolt which... wasn't right. It was wide, forking into a hundred smaller bolts, and it seemed to hold a backlash which drove her back a few steps. Other people in other houses down the beach goggled, but when they turned to see where that, the sloppiest lightning bolt she'd ever bent, came from, she wasn't there anymore.

* * *

"I'm bored," Mai said, as she sat on the bench.

"I know," Zuko answered, leaning against her.

"I'm hungry."

"So what?"

"So, get me some food," she said. Zuko sighed, then rose. This party was a bust. The more he looked around the room at these people, the less he realized he had anything in common with them. These people were all... well... children. He might not have been much older than them, but he had been to every place on this Earth. He had navigated the rivers of Great Whales. He had walked the long paths of the East Continent. He looked over the North Capital as the moon struck its ice and stone. These people likely hadn't ever been more than two islands away from where they were born.

And then, there was the arrogance. These people legitimately thought that they were going to change the world. Zuko had seen the world. They weren't going to change it. They were just going to fight for, and probably die in it. He picked up a plate and began loading it with dumplings and fruit tarts. He didn't belong here anymore.

When Zuko turned, the grandiose gesture of one of the other partygoers upset his plate, tossing the food to the floor. "Watch it!" Zuko shouted. "That food was for my cranky girlfriend!"

"That cranky girlfriend?" the boy asked, pointing across the room. Ruon Jian had taken to leaning in close and chatting with Mai. Zuko quickly crossed the room and spun him away, a technique he'd learned after the Avatar used it against _him_. Ruon Jian looked stunned.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Stop talking to my girlfriend!" Zuko said, that rage swelling again.

"It's a party. People talk," Ruon Jian tried to placate. Mai, though, grabbed Zuko and spun him to her.

"What is wrong with you?" she demanded, her eyes flashing. He was momentarily stunned to speechlessness. He couldn't remember ever seeing her this... angry.

"What's wrong with me?" he asked, incredulous.

"Your anger is out of control!" she stated, pushing on his chest with one black nailed finger. "You blow up over everything, you've got no patience for anything. You take everything as an insult or an act of hostility against you. What happened to your trust, Zuko? What happened to your kindness? Instead, you're just _angry_ all the time."

"Well, what's wrong with being angry?" Zuko asked, his voice getting away from him. "What? Am I supposed to be like you, and not feel anything about anything? You don't have any passions at all! You're just a big... Blah!"

Mai's silver eyes burned into his. "If you can't handle being in an adult relationship, Zuko, maybe you shouldn't be in one," she said, and she walked away. He stared at the floor, feeling that heat licking at his soul. It was gathering into his hands. It called for fire. It called for destruction. He felt a hand land on his shoulder, and he spun, hurling the attacker aside. Ruon Jian flew through the air before smashing upside down into a large vase. Hide came running over.

"You broke the vase! I told you not to break..." Hide pointed at Zuko. "Get the hell out of here, man! I don't want you or your psycho sister in this house anymore."

"Psycho?" Ty Lee said. She looked like she was almost in a Ty Lee version of a rage. But she put on a huff and walked out of the house herself. Zuko went out not long afterwards.

He watched as Ty Lee stalked away, but he didn't go back to the cabin. Instead, he looked up the beach, to their old winter home. He moved across the beach, then up that path to the front entrance. As he walked, he thought of happier times. When he was still young and sickly, and Uncle carried him on his shoulders out to the sand, so that he could build castles with Lu Ten. Playing Hide-And-Explode with Azula, when they were still so young. He pulled on the door handle. It was barred. He gave that flame that tore through him direction, a percussive shockwave which smashed the door to flinders. He walked into that old house.

He stared at a portrait that hung on a wall. Father, Mother, Azula and himself. That had to have been right around when Azula started firebending. He shook his head, and moved deeper. He saw a few things that Ursa had left here the last time she ever went to this place. Back when they were still a family. A chest, unlocked and abandoned. He opened it. At the top was a cast of a tiny hand print. He remembered it, so many years ago, when he finally was able to move around on his own, his sickness finally defeated. This was her symbol that she had never given up hope on him. He looked under it. Letters. Poetry, it looked like. He leafed through them. Romantic poetry? That didn't seem Ozai's style. Near the bottom, he saw something quite out of place, though. It was a scrap of paper, writ by a hasty hand.

_We cannot continue this any longer. My brother suspects._

He recognized Uncle's handwriting as readily as he could have his own. What was this doing here, with all the rest of this garbage? He held it in his hand, and looked at the plaster cast. His childhood, distilled into a single moment.

When Azula finally found him, he was sitting near the back porch, looking toward the sea, the note in one hand, the cast in the other. "I thought I'd find you here," she said. Her tones weren't condescending or patronizing. Just a statement of fact. "The others are waiting down on the beach."

Zuko took one last look at the note, then burnt it so that not even an ash remained.

* * *

Ty Lee watched as Mai stared out at the ocean. "It's been a long time since we were all together, hasn't it?" Ty Lee asked.

"Yeah," she said. She sounded a bit sad.

"Are you alright?" Ty Lee asked.

"Just broke up with my boyfriend. How do you think I feel?" she asked.

"I'm never really sure," Ty Lee admitted. She moved to Mai's side. Mai just stared.

"The Avatar is alive," she said lightly. Ty Lee turned to stare at her, wide eyed. "He's here on Ember Island. And you're traveling with him."

"That's... I'm not..."

Mai reached over and pulled something out of Ty Lee's braid. It was a long, white strand of bison hair. "You missed a few," she said. She stooped down and picked up a small clump that got caught on a rock. "I recognize these from Ba Sing Se, and from that disgusting storm. These are all over the island."

"Does Azula know?" Ty Lee asked, her voice small.

"No," Mai said. "She's good at reading people. I'm better at recognizing confluences. And I'm not going to tell her, either."

"You won't?"

Mai turned to her, a small smile on her face. "No. Because you're my friend. No matter what happens, nothing will change that."

Ty Lee smiled, overwhelmed. She embraced the taller woman, who patted Ty Lee's back. "Thank you," she said. Mai nodded, and flicked the wad of fur away. She moved to sit on a piece of driftwood on the beach. Above, Ty Lee could see the siblings moving toward them. Zuko's eyes went wide when he saw Mai.

"Where's your new boyfriend?" he snapped as he came close. Mai got an angry look and turned away. He hung his head, then moved to sit beside her. If her glare could have killed, nobody would be left alive in the world. He sighed and stood, staring down at her. "Are you cold?" he asked.

"I'm freezing!" Ty Lee said. He looked to her, a sad smile on his face.

"I'll start a fire," he looked up at the building on the hill. "There's plenty of crap to burn up there."

It wasn't long before Zuko returned, some detritus lashed to his back, and quickly bent a fire into a pit, and began throwing things onto it. Old furniture, various garbage, but once he had the fire going, he hurled a painting onto it. "What are you doing, Zuko?" Ty Lee asked, reaching for its frame, but the heat drove her back. "That's a portrait of your family!"

Zuko stared at her, his back to the water. "You think I really care?"

"I think you do," Ty Lee said earnestly.

"Well, what do you know?" He shouted. "You're just stuck in your little Ty Lee World, where everything is perfect and everybody's happy all the time!" he turned around, and pushed himself into a handstand, doing a bad impersonation of her voice. "Oh, look at me, I can walk on my hands!" he pitched further forward, landing on his back in the sand. "Circus freak."

Ty Lee's lip quivered. "Yes. I'm a circus freak," she said. "Go ahead and laugh! You want to know why I joined a circus? Do you have any idea what it was like growing up in _my_ home, with six sisters who look _exactly_ like me? My parents couldn't even tell which one I was; it was like I didn't even have my own name!" She stared at Zuko, her eyes welling with leftover tears, but these ones of quite uncomfortable rage. "Forgive me for not wanting to be a part of a matched set anymore. I'm different now. I'm special. Circus freak is a _compliment_!"

"That explains why you needed five boyfriends," Mai muttered. Ty Lee turned to her.

"I'm sorry; what did you say?" she asked, still angry.

"Attention issues. You couldn't get enough of it at home when you were young, so now, you're overcompensating," Mai said. She was wrong. Ty Lee had all the attention she ever wanted. But she didn't correct her. Instead, she went on the offensive, about something which had bugged her for _years_.

"Really, then I really have to wonder what your excuse is. You've been an only child for fifteen years, but even with all that attention, you're just this sad, loner of a woman with a dingy grey aura!"

Mai scowled. "I don't believe in auras."

"That's your problem," Zuko said, rising to his feet. "You don't believe in anything! I mean, what would it hurt to actually let people know when you're angry, when you're hurt, when you're happy? She just called your aura dingy," Zuko pointed at the acrobat. "Are you just going to take that?"

"It doesn't matter, so I don't care," she said, leaning lower against the log. "My home life wasn't hard. I was just a spoiled-rotten little girl who got anything I ever wanted. Just as long as I didn't get in the way of Father's career, Mother always used to say. And just so long as I obeyed. And stayed out of trouble. And stayed out of sight. And didn't speak unless spoken to..."

Ty Lee felt bad, hearing about that. She knew Mai wasn't a happy child, but this... this was awful. "So you had a controlling mother with certain expectations and if you couldn't meet them you were shut down," Azula said idly. "That's why you're so afraid to express yourself."

Mai's eyes snapped. "You want me to express myself? _LEAVE ME ALONE_!"

Ty Lee leaned back. It was the first time she ever saw that woman scream in rage. Zuko slowly moved closer, setting a hand on her shoulder. "I like it when you express yourself," Zuko said. She smacked his hand away, a knife popping into her hand.

"Don't touch me!" she shouted. "I'm still angry at you!"

"Please, can we stop this!" Ty Lee pleaded. She hated seeing everybody angry and sad. "All of this stress is going to make us sick or break out in pimples or something."

"Pimples? Really?" Zuko asked, spreading his arms and walking away. "_Normal_ teenagers have to worry about bad skin. I don't have that luxury. My own father decided I needed a permanent lesson in humility," he jabbed a finger at the scar which was beginning to vanish up under his long, shaggy hair, "ON MY FACE!"

Ty Lee shrank into herself. "I'm sorry. I..."

"All this time I thought that If I could just get home, I'd be happy," Zuko turned away, railing out into the sea. His voice became more desperate with every sentence. "But I'm not! I'm home. My father accepts me, he talks to me. He even thinks I'm a hero! I have everything that I ever dreamed of, and every morning I just wake up angrier than ever before! And _I don't even know why_!"

Azula tilted her head. "Then there's only one question you need to answer, Zuzu," she said. "Who are you angry at?"

"Is it your father?" Ty Lee asked.

"Is it Uncle?" Azula offered.

"No, no!" Zuko shook his head.

"Is it me?" Mai asked. "Who are you angry at, Zuko?"

"Yeah, who are you angry at?"

"Answer the question, brother."

Zuko's breath began to heave, and she could see his aura swelling, that blue beginning to leak through his very skin. He spun and slammed his fists toward the fire pit. Blue fire blasted out of them, engulfing that lesser fire and rebounding to blast into the heavens like a column of azure rage. "**I'M ANGRY AT **_**MYSELF**_!" he roared through that conflagration. Ty Lee wasn't ashamed to say that she hid behind her rock when he did that. It was the first time she'd seen anybody but Azula bend fire that fearsome, electric blue. She didn't think anybody else _could_.

When the Zuko stopped his bending, the fire was gone. Not extinguished. Everything that had been in the fire pit was reduced to a small pool of rapidly cooling glass. Ty Lee peeked up. She took a step closer, but the heat was still immense radiating away from that glass. "Why?" Azula asked.

"Because I don't know who I am anymore," Zuko said quietly, staring into the pit. "I don't know if anything I'm doing is good or evil."

"This is pathetic," Azula muttered. Mai, though, moved to Zuko's side and knelt in the sand beside him. She pulled his face to hers.

"I know one thing I _do_ care about, Zuko. You," she said, with a much more open look on her features. She pulled him in, and they shared a brief kiss. Azula, though, was rolling her eyes.

"Well, that's very nice for all of you. Putting all of your emotional insecurities on the table and dealing with them in five minutes flat. I'm sure somebody out there would love to have conflicts resolved this quickly and easily for some book he's writing," Azula said, idly inspecting her nails.

"I guess you couldn't understand, could you, Azula?" Zuko said, holding Mai close to him. "Because you're just _so_ perfect."

"You're right," she admitted. "I don't have any sob stories like the rest of you. I mean, my father didn't burn and banish me to wander the most heathen and barbarian parts of the world. I _could_ complain that Ursa loved Zuko more than me, but it's not like I really cared," Ty Lee looked at Azula's face, expecting flippant dismissal, but she saw... Azula was lying. She cared. Azula stared at the pit of glass, her eyes seeing something much farther away, a long time ago. "My own mother thought I was a _monster_," she said, her voice small, like a little girl, and utterly haunted. Ty Lee glanced over to Zuko, and he looked just as surprised to be seeing this as she was. Azula's cheek twitched, and she shrugged. "She was right, of course, but it still hurt."

Ty Lee knew the last part was just an act. This really hurt Azula. Ty Lee still felt a lot more open then ever before. Mai knew about what Ty Lee was doing. And she was enough of a friend that she had the strength to do nothing. She finally understood why Zuko seemed so much older. And she finally saw what was eating at Azula's heart. She felt a small smile come to her face. "Lo and Li were right. This place really did show us our own souls. I feel all smoothed over inside. I'll never forget this night."

Azula's haunted look vanished in an instant, replaced by that smirk that nobody else in the world could match. "You know what would really make this night memorable?" she asked. "How do you feel about crashing a party?"

Zuko and Mai both got smiles on their faces. "I can't wait," Zuko said. But Ty Lee knew she'd had enough. "Party's over."

"I've got to go home," she said. A smile came to her face. "But I'm so glad I got to see you again. We shouldn't be apart so long."

"Perhaps not," Azula said. She went over and moved, albeit quite awkwardly, to give Ty Lee a hug. It was alright. Azula was still learning. "When you come back from... wherever it is you keep going, I'll have a room in the palace open for you."

"Thank you," she said. "You're one of the best friends I've ever had."

Ty Lee walked back through the night, as the siblings and Mai went off to wreak horrifying revenge on the people who had humiliated them. A year ago, she probably would have joined them. But now, she had to go back to her family. Not the one in Di Huo, with her parents and sisters. To a big, fuzzy bison, her friends, and her lover. That last thought made her giggle as she walked. She had a lover! Oh, if only her sisters could see her! She stopped by Lo and Li's just long enough to grab up her effects, and walked into the night.

Her thoughts were on happy things as she moved through the rocks, to that place which supposedly resembled a miniature Pillars of Heaven. Since she'd never seen the real thing, she just took their word for it. It wouldn't be too far, since Aang and the rest said that they would be in a cranny where the river ran down, before looping around the natural obelisks of stone. The wind buffeted through her ears, harangued by the stone around her, but she thought she heard something in the distance.

The winds fell still.

Paff.

Clang.

Paff.

Clang.

Paff.

Clang.

Her eyes went wide. She began to run, shifting her bag to her back and holding her staff behind her. She came to a point where she could see the campsite, on the far side of the river. And up above, only visible because the moonlight reflected off of a metal arm, was that Combustion Man. Ty Lee looked at her friends, in that cranny by the water. They were still all asleep. She gathered all the air she could into her lungs, and screamed like she never screamed before.

"_**WAKE UP!**_"

The roar tore across the distance like a catapulted stone, and everybody bounced to awakedness. She didn't even know _how_ she got so much volume into it. Combustion Man turned toward her, and she saw a flicker of light at his head. Then, that loud popping. She dived behind a pillar of stone, and the spot where she had been standing exploded, sending shards of rock everywhere. She peeked out, and saw that he turned his attention to those below, and now rained down his 'death rays', as Sokka called them, onto the Avatar and his companions.

* * *

"Everybody run!" Toph shouted. She brought up a huge wall of stone which blocked the beam which flared toward them, but it unmade the wall in the process. Toph began to earth-glide up the wall, sending shockwaves toward Combustion Man with every stride. He just death beamed straight through them. Aang pounded the earth, and the saddle flew upward. A bolt of air dropped it brusquely onto Appa's back. He turned, and Combustion Man had turned his attentions from Toph to Aang. He fired another death beam. Aang leapt forward and intercepted it with a pill of air compressed so hard it was almost solid. It detonated the beam just short of him. The shockwave buffeted his clothes and threw his hair back. Aang looked up, and Combustion Man was preparing for another shot. He wasn't targeting Toph!

Katara ran up beside Aang, bending the entire stream back and up toward him, catching that beam. All it achieved was making an enormous amount of steam. Aang fell back.

"Should we really be flying on Appa?" Sokka asked, his hair completely loose from him being asleep moments before.

"We don't have much of a choice," he said. "Get going! They're after me, not Toph. I need to buy some time!"

* * *

Toph slid down the other side of the hill, and rolled in the dirt, instantly creating an earthen armor for herself. It wasn't much, but it might help her survive a hit by Combustion Man over there. But when she turned to pull up another protective wall, he wasn't looking at her. He turned, and was beginning to rain more death beams onto Aang and the others. Toph dropped to one knee, cradling her rocken head.

"Oh!" she shouted. "I'm so stupid! They're after Twinkletoes!"

"Not all of us," a voice came. No. No frickin' way. There was no way that son of a bitch came all the way here. She turned, and blasted a shockwave of earth toward Gahj Muul. He pounded down with a fist, and flicked forward. The ripple began to resonate back on her. It was a move the Boulder used.

Toph tore up a rock from right in front of her, and the wave fell into the hole, and otherwise moved past her. She punched forward, sending the rock flying toward Muul. He cut it in half with a flick of his hand. "You've gotten better," Toph said, finally getting into a proper stance.

"I've been paying attention," Muul said. "The Fire Nation says you're dead. I know you couldn't be. Because only I get to kill you."

"In your wettest dreams," Toph snarked, and she twisted, kicking aside. A ripple of stone moved toward him, but he kicked it when it reached him, and it bounced away into a pillar of rock, which crumbled. Muul wasn't kidding. He must have spent the last six months specifically finding a way to counter Toph's every move. Muul smirked.

"You have no idea, little girl," he said.

"Dude, you seriously need to find a woman," Toph said. "You sound pretty backed up."

The two bent. They both countered. Toph was glad she was the greatest earthbender in the world, because otherwise, she would have probably been run down. Muul had gone from an afterthought to a bibliographical footnote; important enough to mention. It was like shadow boxing. He couldn't do anything to hurt Toph, but anything she did, he countered and deflected. He was tying her down. Every time she moved back, he locked her in place with some devious bending.

"I should have seriously killed you at my mother's house," Toph shouted.

"We all have things we regret," Muul said. Toph thought she saw something, bouncing on the pillars, but it could have been a figment of her imagination. The only things she could afford to keep her feet on were Muul and Combustion Man. "Like not killing _you_ at your mother's house."

Toph's witty retort was cut off when she sensed flying metal toward Muul. He turned, and got a metal staff in the head. Sugarqueen hit the ground and bounded away, but Muul was a tough bastard, and sent a wave of earthbending after her. She was thrown back to the ground, but Ty Lee was nothing if not nimble. The binds which would have held almost any human in place were mere suggestions to a woman who was fully capable of sitting on her own head.

And Toph wasn't about to just let the only woman half as funny as Sokka get pasted by some bounty hunter. She burst forward, hurling an array of stones. He pounded through them, but it kept him busy, while she twisted and heaved. One of the great pillars cracked and fell toward him, accelerated by her bending. He actually had to move to get out of the way of this one. He might be a cunning bender, but he wasn't an exceptionally strong one. Unfortunately for him, she was both. They each ran forward, hurling rocks and bashing others away. All she had to do was hold his attention just a little bit longer...

There. Toph saw Ty Lee running up behind him. She brought that staff around, and a click, audible only to somebody with Toph's stellar hearing, sounded. The staff became two sticks. She ran up behind Muul and smashed him in the back and ribs with those sticks, running a full circle around him. It would be pointless, as a bender like him could stand up to much more of a drubbing... only he didn't. When she turned back, snapping her staff back together, he teetered and collapsed to the floor, utterly paralyzed.

"Not bad," Toph said. "Come on! Twinkletoes is in trouble!"

The acrobat didn't need to be told twice. They each ran back up the hill, but Combustion Man had moved down into another section of the pillars. Toph couldn't see Appa anywhere, so he must have taken off. She heard a grunt, and another death beam crossed the distance, slamming into a stone quite a distance away from Toph. A few seconds later, another explosion, much closer, then a third, a short distance from that one. Toph smirked. Let's see how the Combustion Man dealt with the Blind Bandit.

* * *

Aang was being pushed back. The death beams were coming too hard and too fast. He could shield himself, but every time he did, it sent him flying and exhausted him. So he hid amongst the pillars.

"Why can't anything I do hurt you?" Aang muttered as he heard that clanging rhythm of Combustion Man's footfalls. The firebender appeared from behind a pillar, and as though his eyes were drawn by a magnet, they swiveled to Aang. He immediately fired another death beam. Aang bent hard the air beside him, a catapult which sent him hurtling sideways straight into the pillar as the explosion began. He earthbent his way through and landed on the baked soil, rolling up to his feet and running. Another explosion landed near him, and he spun, cutting with a hard blade of air. Combustion Man just raised his metal arm into its path, and the blade was deflected away. It was like this guy was bendingproof!

Combustion Man stared at Aang, his face utterly expressionless. Who was this guy? And why was he after Aang this time? Whatever questions Aang had wouldn't be answered, because the firebender breathed in hard, and blasted another death ray at Aang, this one detonated by Aang's quick wall of stone. The shockwave, however, lifted Aang from his feet and sent him flying, and not by his own device. He didn't even have the wherewithal to cushion his landing, as he usually did, so he felt a tearing pain along his shoulder and back.

That clanging sound came closer. Aang had to get up. He did, but his right arm hung useless at his side. He must have torn a muscle or something. Just about every part of him hurt. Aang was still trying to regain his balance and shake the stars from his eyes when Combustion Man was there, standing only a dozen paces away. He stared, a furious intensity in his eyes, at the young Avatar. Then, he took a deep breath.

Something hurtled past Aang, a rock about the size of his fist. It smashed into Combustion Man's face, and he let out a grunt of pain, the first that Aang had ever heard. He turned, and leaned forward. The popping sound appeared next to Combustion Man, and another in a random spot. Combustion Man's eyes went wide, then he tightened his expression. The last pop was loud, then fizzled down to nothing.

"Come on, Aang! We've got to go!" Sokka said, grabbing Aang's right arm and pulling him away. Sokka actually managed to hurt Combustion Man... and with a rock! Combustion Man stepped forward, taking another deep breath, but once again, the popping didn't travel in a line, but randomly around him. He scowled, snuffing out the death beam. Then, he just stared at them as they ran away. Was he letting them go?

Aang pulled his horribly painful arm out of Sokka's grasp and vaulted up onto Appa. The bison tried flying, but the best it could manage were long, gliding hops. It finally reached the water, and instead of majestically flying over it, it dropped into the surf and paddled away, leaving Ember Island behind them.

"How did they know where we were?" Toph asked, angrily.

"More importantly," Katara corrected from the reins, "how did they know we were alive?"

"I thought we'd left him behind in Burning Rock," Ty Lee said, staring back at the receding hills of Lesser Ember.

"It's Gahj Muul," Toph said grimly. "If I died, he'd follow me to hell just so he could re-kill me himself."

"He's obsessed," Aang said. "That means he'll never stop looking for us."

"Are you regretting not letting me kill him, yet?" Toph asked.

"No."

Sokka stared at the darkness around him. "Where are we going to go? I mean, unless Appa gets better, there's no way we're going to make the rendezvous."

Ty Lee pointed to the west. "Grand Ember is only a few miles that way. It's a pretty big island. If we can hide anywhere in the archipelago, it'll be there."

Aang looked behind him. So much for Ember Island.

* * *

Azula looked proudly upon what she'd done. The entire house was engulfed in flames, everything inside it already destroyed. The teenagers had scattered long before, leaving Ruon Jian to run away crying and Hide to huddle on the sand, rocking back and forth, staring at nothing.

"You know, that was a lot of fun," Mai said, a smirk coming to her face. "Just think of what what-his-name's father's going to think of that when he learns his house burned down."

"Yeah. It's such a shame," Zuko said, pulling Mai close to him. Azula felt just a stab of that jealousy running through her. Despite everything, she was still...

Nobody can ever love you.

She turned to Hide. "You should have been nicer to royalty, little man," she whispered, a smirk on her face. "I wasn't kidding when I said our children could have ruled the world. Think on that, would you?"

Mai chuckled lightly, then turned to her boyfriend. "I'm _still_ hungry." Zuko laughed.

* * *

_Review me. Can't fix what I don't know's broken._


	6. The Terrorist

**I really hope I didn't screw this one up, because it casts reflections throughout the rest of the season, and in a couple of ways. Yup. Still adding onto that bit from the Beach earlier. Also, the title isn't meant to be deliberately inflamatory. It is contextually valid considering the subject matter.**

**I can't wait to see how that cashes out.**

* * *

The forest was downright spooky. Sokka walked around in the woods with all the casual ease of a cave hopper who knew Momo was staring at it. At least he wasn't alone. "Where did you say that was?" he asked. "All of these plants look the same to me."

"It's that one," Ty Lee pointed. She paused. "I think. I wasn't big on botany."

"So this is either a nourishing food or deadly poison," Sokka said. He felt his stomach rumbling. "Well, what's the worst it could do?"

"Cause blindness and insanity," Ty Lee prompted.

"Yes, that would be bad," he said, holding up the twig of berries. He shrugged. "Well, we don't have too many options."

As he tilted his head back and began to lower the berries in, Ty Lee slapped them away. He shot her a strangled cry. "Must you try to eat everything you come across?" she asked, but he could tell she was trying not to laugh.

"If I don't, how can I ever expand my culinary horizons?" he asked. She scowled at him. He turned, walking back toward the camp. "Fine. We'll look for some less risky food."

"There's the man with the brains," she said. She took ahold of his arm and leaned against his shoulder as they walked. Sokka couldn't be happier. Well, he could be, but he couldn't think of a happier way to be whilst clothed and in the Fire Nation.

"I've been wondering something," Sokka said. She looked up at him. "About... what happened in the barracks that night..."

"What about it?" she asked.

"Well, where I come from, you're not supposed to do that without..." he searched for a proper word, "assurances that I'm going to be sticking around. I mean, if Gran Gran heard about that, she'd drag me in front of the shaman so fast I wouldn't have time to get my boots on."

Ty Lee shook her head. "Oh, you silly barbarian," she said kindly. "That isn't the way things work in the rest of the world. I mean, I broke up with the first guy I'd ever been with not long after we..."

"Wait, I'm not the first?" Sokka asked.

"You had sex with the moon," she pointed out.

"Complaint retracted."

"I was almost fifteen, I was stuck on Kyoshi Island, and Dian was a good guy. A bit excitable though. Needless to say, I liked you better."

"Why?"

She just smiled. "Let's just say that he was... excitable... in a lot of ways."

"Jeez, and I thought Twinkletoes' ghost-stories were terrifying," Toph's voice came from nearby. They had reached the camp.

"Talk about this later?" he asked.

"If you want," she said.

Aang looked over to them from his spot next to Sokka's sister. "You should tell a ghost story, Sokka."

"Oh, you don't that," Katara mentioned. "The only one he knows is 'the man with a sword for a hand', and he doesn't tell it very well."

"Fine. You think you're so much better, why don't you tell one?" Sokka complained, sitting himself down. Katara nodded, pulling her knees up to her chest.

"I've got one, but it's not a ghost story. It's something that really happened."

"Let me guess, to a friend of a cousin of a friend of yours?" Sokka asked, sarcastically.

Katara shook her head. "No. It happened to Mom," Sokka shut up at that. "When she was a little girl, she had a friend named Nini. They used to play together all the time. But one winter, there was a great storm. Remember the one we got lost in for a week?" Sokka nodded. "Like that, but this one lasted a _month_. A few families were crushed when the snow just caved in their homes. When it was all done, the people started to dig themselves out, and Mom went looking for her friend. She found the house, well out on the edge of the village, and she could see smoke coming from the chimney. She thought that Nini must still be safe."

Katara shifted, staring into the fire. "She went inside, but the family was gone. There wasn't any trace of them. It was like they had vanished into the storm. But when Mom turned back to the fire pit, she saw a tiny form, all blue and shivering like it was frozen. And it said in a tiny voice, in Nini's voice, 'I'm so cold. Why can't I get warm?' Mom ran to get the others, but by the time they got back, the smoke was gone, and so was Nini," she looked up. "They say, on some nights when the winds whip through the south, you can still hear her crying, trying to get warm."

Toph stared at Katara for a moment. "Yeah, she's a lot better at this than Twinkletoes," she said, her voice unsteady. Sokka could feel Ty Lee pulling tighter against him. He had to hand it to his sister. She had a way with words. She always did. Toph got a tense look on her face, and her hand slammed into the ground. "I hear somebody screaming!"

Everybody let out a shout and clung to somebody nearby, before realizing she was just trying to bank on the tension. Sokka groaned. "That's not funny, Toph," he said. She shook her head.

"I'm serious. I heard somebody scream, just for a moment, that way!" she pointed. Of course, there was a forest in the way, so nobody knew what she was talking about. Everybody rose, moving to that side of the fire. They peered into the darkness. Sokka gave a glance at Toph. With that expression, there was no way she was just putting them all on.

"Hello, children," an old woman's voice said from the far side of the fire. Sokka almost leapt out of his skin. Judging by the cries of alarm from everybody else, they weren't far from it as well. Toph turned, her blind eyes wide. "What a surprise to find all these young people here in the woods. I'm so sorry to frighten you. My name is Hama, and I run an inn nearby. Surely you would prefer a warm bed and some tea to living in the wilderness."

"Food would be nice," Sokka said, but Katara shushed him.

"Did you hear a scream?" she asked. The old woman moved a bit closer into the light. Her skin was darkly tanned, and her hair was completely white. She was also a bit hunched. In a lot of ways, she looked like Gran Gran. "From out there in the woods?"

"I'm sorry. My hearing isn't what it used to be," she gestured. "Come along. I have plenty of beds."

She began to walk away, and as Aang moved after her, Toph grabbed his sleeve. "I didn't see her," Toph said.

"We all have our off days," Aang said.

"Yeah, if it wasn't for Ty Lee screaming, you would have slept through Combustion Man killing you," Sokka pointed out. Toph shot Sokka a dirty look. "Come on. Beds! Food!"

"Yeah, getting out of this woods will do our wits a world of good," Aang agreed. Hama led the teenagers through the forest to a small, multistory stone house with a barn nearby. "Do you mind if Appa sleeps in your barn? He hasn't been feeling well."

"Be my guest," she said. Aang smiled and blew his bison whistle. After a few moments, Appa plodded up and sauntered into the barn. Hama watched it with only a hint of interest.

"It's a Sky Bison," Katara began to explain, but Hama just shrugged and moved into the building. She looked at Aang. "Maybe she's just a little senile?"

It was a matter of minutes before Hama had them all seated in her dining room, a soothing tea brewing. "Thank you for inviting us into your home," Ty Lee said. She looked contrite. "I don't know if we'll be able to pay you, though. We lost most of our money on Ember Island."

"I'm not expecting to be paid for this," Hama said kindly. "After all, it would be cruel of me to let you sleep outside. The full moon has just arrived. Bad things happen in the wood with the full moon."

Sokka leaned forward. "What do you mean, bad things?"

"Some people vanish without a trace," Hama said, her tones becoming ominous. "Perhaps those are the lucky ones. Some are found the next day, their corpses withered and dessicated," everybody stared at her as she suddenly grinned. "Who wants some tea?"

Sokka looked around, and nobody felt like taking her up on the offer. "I think we'll pass for tonight," Toph said.

"Well, then let me show you to your rooms," Hama said. "I'm sure you'll be safe here tonight."

The old woman showed each teenager to a separate room, Sokka's being the last. He looked across the hall to where Ty Lee was sleeping, but decided he should just take the old lady's largess in stride. Momo rode on his shoulder as he ducked into bed, glancing around. The wind whistled through the window, and the light filtered across the room grimly. There was a call in the night. Sokka bolted upright, his Space Sword out and swinging around, his teeth chattering. Momo chattered nervously.

"I know, Momo. This place is creepy," he put his sword away and pulled himself under the covers. "I don't know if I'm going to be able to sleep tonight."

Within about a minute, he did.

* * *

Sokka didn't look too impressed that he got pressganged into serving as Hama's mule. However, considering that they'd arrived on her doorstep with no money and no valid reason for camping in the woods – let alone the fact that they had a twelve tonne, magical flying bison – Aang was just happy that she was allowing them to do these few things to earn their keep.

"Yes, we have no ash bananas," a vendor nearby said.

"But they're only on Hing-Wa Island, it's not that far!"

"It's a two day trip, and the full moon's up," the vendor explained. The customer recoiled a bit.

"Right. You've got enough trouble without having to lose another delivery boy," the customer said. Sokka was frowning at the whole exchange.

"Weird stuff happening in the woods on a full moon. That sounds like classic spirit world shenanigans to me," Sokka said. Aang smiled.

"I bet if I walk around town, I'll be able to figure out what's got the local spirits so angry," he said.

"And you can do all of that bridge-between-worlds, Avatar stuff, and we'll be out of here lickety split," Sokka confirmed.

"Helping people. It's what I do."

Hama returned, setting another pair of bags onto the sword which Sokka had yoked across his back. He didn't look amused, but she smiled sedately. "I've just got a few more errands before I can go home. Could you be a dear and bring these back to the inn for me?"

"You've got a mysterious little town here," Sokka said. Hama smiled back.

"A mysterious town for mysterious people."

Sokka raised a brow, but went on his way, back toward the inn. He mulled to himself the whole walk back to the town. Even Ty Lee couldn't stir him out of it, showing him all the things that Hama had bought 'to make her catch a boy's eye'. Nobody told the old woman that a boy's eye had already been caught. When they got back to the Inn, Aang briefly popped into the barn, to check on Appa. He was contentedly munching on hay, and gave a soft bellow to the Avatar as he came closer. Aang moved closer, and Appa licked him in the face. The tongue was wet again. Appa was starting to feeling better.

"Hey, Appa's getting better," Aang announced when he entered the kitchen, but found that nobody was there, just jugs of food abandoned on the table.

"Sokka! You shouldn't go around snooping in somebody else's house!" Katara's voice came from above. Aang went up, and found Sokka inspecting an odd closet in the hallway.

"I'm just saying that Hama's a little odd. Like she knows something. Or she's hiding something!" he said.

"That's ridiculous," Katara said, crossing her arms. "She's just a kind old lady who gave us a place to stay. She reminds me of Gran Gran."

"And what about that comment, about the 'mysterious people'?" Sokka asked.

"Maybe because she found us all huddled around a campfire in the woods with a fuzzy monster at our beck and call?" Toph asked sarcastically. "What? I still want you to look."

"You can't see?"

"It's padded," Toph said. Sokka finally got the closet open. There were a couple of wooden puppets in the space, and some jars of preserved jerky. "So, what is it?"

"Food and entertainment," Katara said blankly.

"Yeah, well, I'm not done yet," Sokka moved past Aang and up the stairs to the attic. He pulled at the door he found up there. "If she's just a normal, puppet and jerky loving innkeeper, why is she keeping a locked door up here?"

"Sokka!" Katara hissed. "Hama's going to be back soon!"

Sokka pulled his sword, but Ty Lee waved him away, and took out a sliver of metal and worked it in the lock for a few moments. There was a loud clunk. Everybody stared at her. "What?" she asked. "I learned a lot of stuff in the circus. This is the one that surprises you?"

Sokka opened the door. Beyond there was a broad rug, and a number of personal touches. The colors here, quite unlike Aang had seen in a long time, were soothing blues and whites. Animals skins hung on the walls, and a box lay on a rug that looked like a skinned elephant gerbil. Thrown into one corner, as though discarded, was a shredded wall hanging depicting a white flower. Sokka though was drawn immediately to the box. Toph picked it up, a confused look on her face. "What's inside, Toph?" Sokka asked. Toph tried groping around the edges of the wooden box, but she seemed baffled.

"I don't know," she said. "I can't describe it."

"It's my hair brush," Hama's voice came from directly behind them. Once again, everybody gave out a surprised shout. With a hang-dog expression, Sokka took the box and handed it to Hama. She unlocked it quickly, and held up a blue walrus-bone comb. A Water Tribe comb. "It's my greatest treasure," Hama said quietly. "The only thing which I kept from home."

Katara's eyes grew wide. "You're a Tribesman?" she asked. Hama nodded. "From the North?"

"From the South," Hama said, turning and putting her comb away. She set the box down, and beckoned the contrite youths to follow her. She glanced at Katara. "Just like you are."

"How did you know that?" she asked. Hama smiled.

"I heard you talking around your campfire," she said. Sokka scowled.

"Then why didn't you tell us? What was with all that 'mysterious' talk?"

"I wanted to surprise you with a big, Water Tribe dinner," Hama said, entering the kitchen. She shrugged. "I couldn't get all the ingredients, but those are a lot like sea prunes if you stew them long enough."

"Great," Aang said, trying to hold down the gagging that memory brought to the surface. There was little food among the Water Tribes which wasn't meat, and that which they did have, was mostly disgusting. Katara smiled at the old woman.

"I knew I felt a bond with you," she said.

"And I knew you were hiding something," he added. Katara jabbed him hard in the ribs. "Right... Sorry about the... you know... intruding."

"All's forgiven," Hama said brightly. "Come. Help an old lady cook some dinner."

* * *

Katara marveled at the dinner which Hama had prepared. The smells, the textures, the flavors, they all reminded her of home. Then again, that was the intention. Nobody here was home. Even Ty Lee said she'd never been to Grand Ember. Aang didn't look comfortable eating the fare, but then again, the North Pole was a trying time for him. It wasn't easy to be a vegetarian in a place with no endemic crops. Hama placed a pot onto the table. "Who would like some five-flavors soup?" she asked. Hands raised around the table. Hama reached out with a broad gesture, and the soup sluiced up and out of the pot, bending into their bowls. Katara's eyes widened.

"You're a waterbender!" she exclaimed. "I thought they died out in the South!"

"They had," Hama said quietly. "I was the last. The Fire Nation wiped all the rest out."

Sokka supped at his soup. "Then how did you end up here?" he asked.

"I was taken from my home and everything I cared for," Hama said. Her blue-grey eyes stared at something far away. "It was sixty years ago when the raids began. I was only a girl, really. Not much older than you, Katara. The ash-snow fell, and we rushed out to defend our homes, our culture. Our city. They came again and again. At first, we were able to push them back, to inflict on them losses which they had to fall back and lick before they came again. But every time they raided us, another waterbender fell, and was taken captive."

She sat back in her seat, her long nailed hands spread on the table. "They seemed to target the strongest benders first, so that each successive raid would be easier than the last. And they succeeded. Our numbers dwindled. We went from several hundred waterbenders, to several dozen, to one dozen, to one. Me. The last waterbender of the Southern Tribe. I couldn't fight anymore. I was led away from my home in chains, and everybody I loved was left behind," her eyes grew hard. "They imprisoned me for forty years. I was the only one to ever escape," she whispered. "I'm sorry. It's too painful. I don't want to talk about it anymore."

"It's alright," Katara said. She stared down into her own bowl. "I understand how you feel. My brother and I lost our mother in a raid like that."

"I'm so sorry to hear that, dear child," Hama said. Katara looked back up.

"I can't believe I'm meeting a waterbender of the Southern Tribe. I thought that they were gone for good," Katara said.

"Things only vanish if we let them," Hama said. "_I_ never thought _I'd_ meet another Southern waterbender. I need to teach you what I know, so that the South may rise up again."

Katara smiled. "I would be honored."

Hama smiled. "Then we will begin your training tomorrow. Until then, please, enjoy my hospitality. Any daughter of the South is family."

* * *

Aang came bounding back to the rest of them, gathered in the shade under a tree. The entire valley was gorgeous, completely flush with life and vigor. "This has to be the most beautiful natural setting in the entire Fire Nation," Aang said. "I have no idea why a spirit would be angry here."

"Maybe it's not a nature spirit," Ty Lee asked.

"Or maybe the Moon just turned evil?" Toph asked. Sokka, upon hearing that, turned on the blind earthbender, fury in his face.

"The Moon spirit is a kind, gentle, loving being who rules the sky and seas with compassion and... lunar goodness!" he shouted. Toph leaned back.

"Jeez, what's your problem?" Toph muttered.

"Bad breakup," Ty Lee said. Toph goggled at her.

"Am I the only one here who hasn't lost her damned mind?" she demanded, crossing her arms in front of her. Ever since Toph was re-designated as dead, she stopped with the long sleeves. It obviously made her much happier.

"Maybe we need to talk to somebody who saw the spirit," Aang said. He shrugged. "Come on, there's plenty of people in that town. At least one of them must have gotten a look."

Sokka shrugged. "It's a better plan than I had."

"Which was?" Toph asked.

"Well, first, we need to find a tiny set of pants for Momo, then..."

"Forget I asked."

* * *

Hama walked down into the valley, all alight with color. Katara was amazed. This part of Grand Ember was beautiful. "What are they called?" Katara asked, leaning down to run her fingers along the soft, red petals.

"They're fire lilies," Hama said. "They're my favorite flower, so vibrant and lovely. They only bloom a few weeks of the year, but they seem to set the valley aflame."

"I can see why you stayed here. This place is really beautiful," Katara said. It certainly had its charms. Except for the whole haunted forest, anyway. Hama shrugged.

"Perhaps. But these places are also very good for other reasons. They're nice and secluded; nobody ever comes around here anymore. Tell me, Katara, how far have you come with your waterbending?"

"I trained in the North under..."

"You? In the North?" Hama seemed surprised. "How is that possible?"

"It's a very long story," Katara said. "I also learned from a waterbender living in Misty Swamp who could control the water inside of plants."

"Ah, yes, those bastard degenerates, the Whalesh," Hama said, looking away. "We should never have taught them to bend the waters. They don't even take power from the moon, did you know that? Strange, unnatural creatures."

"I wouldn't call them..." Katara began, but Hama seemed to switch gears.

"There is a reason why waterbenders are so at home around ice and snow, champions and masters of the seas. You must have found in your travels that waterbending could be quite limited, because you are always dependent on an outside source for your water," Hama said.

"I know. It's almost gotten me killed a few times," she admitted. "I've never felt so helpless as when I was in Si Wong."

"Believe it or not, there is water everywhere, Katara. Only the most unusual conditions make it not so. There is water in our bodies, in the food we eat. There is even water in the air we breathe," she began to sweep her hand around, and water began to gather out of the thin air, pulsing up and down her long nailed hands. "To a grandmaster of the elemental martial art of water, one is never totally disarmed."

Hama hurled the water away, and it formed into icy bullets which smashed and dug into a rock. "I never even thought of that," Katara said, astounded. She began to feel around her, and was amazed. Hama was right. The air, all around them, held water. Not an enormous amount, but easily enough to fill her flask time and time again. Hama smirked.

"Oh, but there's so much more than that," she walked further into the field of flowers. "Where those fools from Great Whales bend the water inside the plants, you can take it so much farther."

Hama began to swirl, and water began to surge up from the fire lilies around her, ringing around her in a great band. She turned, and hurled it at the rock she'd already targeted, splitting it into five equally sized chunks. Katara marveled. But then, she looked down, and saw that all the flowers around Hama were dead, withered up and falling into dust on the ground. "It's amazing... but look at what it did to the plants."

Hama gave a dismissive glance. "They're just flowers," she said. "When you're a desperate waterbender in a hostile land, you use whatever you can find. Practice it, Katara. It is a skill that will save your life."

Katara nodded, and began to pull at the water inside the flower she focused on. It was like plantbending, but it had a savageness to it, a willingness not simply to bend, but to tear. She pulled, and a blob of water, just about the size of a small coin, wafted up, and the flower wilted away. "I see," she said. She still didn't like thinking about the damage she was doing, but any technique from the South had to be preserved.

"There is so much more," Hama said, crossing her hands in front of her. "Tonight, when the full moon shines, I will be able to show you the most powerful techniques of waterbending that I have ever been able to discover."

Katara frowned. "But isn't it unsafe to be out in the woods during the full moon?" she asked. Hama smiled, in that grandmotherly way she did.

"Katara, what could possibly threaten two master waterbenders, with the full moon giving us strength? We will be fine," she said, patting Katara's shoulder. "But we have plenty of daylight left, and you should practice what I've taught you."

* * *

"I can't believe we haven't found anybody who's seen the spirit," Aang said more annoyed than he had been for a long time. He was the bridge between worlds, but if he couldn't figure out what he was dealing with, he'd just be blundering around in the dark.

The sun was setting fast, and this would be the last day of the full moon. If Aang didn't come up with an answer fast, he might miss his opportunity, and considering how little time there was left until the eclipse, and the subsequent invasion, he might not have time to come back and help. Sokka, though, looked distracted, pouring over notes that he'd been taking from the people Aang had talked to.

"Well..." Toph pondered. "We could burn the woods down so nobody can hide in them."

Aang stared at Toph. "That has to be the _worst _idea I've ever heard."

"Hey, you want to deal with spirits, don't talk to an earthbender," Toph said, crossing her arms. "We didn't learn our bending from fancy-pants ghosts; we learned it from big, powerful animals which we shared our lands with," she scowled. "Come to think of it, I can't see why you're so damned spiritual. You learned airbending from the Sky Bison, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but..."

"Now I can see why the Tribesmen over there," Sokka raised an eyebrow, "are so up to their eyes in spirituality, what with their bending coming from the frickin' moon. Same with Princess Crazy, since dragons are mostly spirit anyway. But you and me? We're supposed to be the voices of reason here! Bending from animals, man!"

Aang stared at Toph for a long moment. "How long has that been bothering you?" he asked.

"A while," she said. Aang nodded, sighing. He leaned against a tree.

"We've been moving into a secular world," Aang said quietly. "People don't believe in the old gods anymore. Or any gods. The only reason they still acknowledge and respect the spirits is because the spirits consistently interact with the world. To deny the spirits would be as sensible as denying the sky. I don't know if it's better or worse, but that's the world we live in now."

Toph leaned next to him. "How long has _that_ been bothering _you_?" she asked.

"A while," he said.

Sokka looked up from his notes, an odd look on his face. "Guys... I think we've been asking the wrong questions," he began to pull out maps, until he found one of Grand Ember. He quickly marked where the inn was, and began making 'x'es in the forest surrounding it. Literally surrounding it. He kept consulting his notes, and then there was a scratch if his metal 'pen', and he moved to the next. Hama was at the center, geographically, of every disappearance and death. After a few minutes, he pointed down at the map. "This is Hama's inn, and these are where the bodies were discovered."

"How could anybody have missed this?" Aang asked.

"A bit of help?" Toph asked. Right. She was blind.

"The reason nobody noticed them is because they've been happening over the course of years," Sokka said. "It got attributed to the woods which is everywhere on this part of the island. Nobody though that..."

Sokka looked up. Aang looked back. They both understood. Toph, though, as she couldn't read the maps nor make the deductive leap inherent to them, couldn't. "Katara is with Hama," Aang said.

Sokka looked up. The full moon was already visible in the sky, as it had been for hours, even though the sun had barely set. He began to look around. "Wait a second, when was the last time somebody saw my girlfriend?" he asked.

"I can't say I've ever seen your girlfriend," Toph said.

"NOT THE TIME!" Sokka shouted. The gravity dawned on Aang.

"We need to move!" Aang said. "Before something terrible happens!"

* * *

Katara watched as Hama stood in the forest, staring up through the trees to the full moon. "Look at it, Katara," Hama said. "Feel it pulling at the waters. Filling us with power. For thousands of years, it has bathed us with its glow, allowing us to perform the impossible," the old woman straightened her back, rising to her full height. "I've never felt so... alive."

Hama turned, now looking more vibrant than her at least eighty years of life seemed possible. Katara glanced around, understanding the power, but feeling quite uneasy. "Why are we out here now?"

"The full moon makes the weakest waterbender as mighty as the strongest under the light of day," Hama said. She streamed water out of a tree, and it exploded when the wither ended. She bent the water into a crude chair, and seated herself, her white hair falling around her lined face. Katara glanced to the side, starting when she heard a grunting sound somewhere out in the woods. "Don't be so afraid, Katara. It's just a wild Kimodo Rhino."

"Just?"

"What I'm about to show you, I learned in that wretched Fire Nation Prison," she said. She rose, pulling the water up her arms, into sharp and brutal claws which shimmered in the moonlight. "Do you know what the Fire Nation does with captured waterbenders, Katara?" she shook her head. "They keep all water away from us. We are given a cup of water a day, to keep ourselves alive. Dry air is blasted down around us, so even the atmosphere works against us. Our sweat evaporates in seconds, carried away before there's anything to use. And when we are watered, our hands and feet are shackled," she scowled, and slashed out her arm. Her claws tore through a tree, rendering it to splinters as it fell behind her.

"I'm so sorry," Katara said.

"Don't be sorry for me," Hama said, her tones no longer grandmotherly. "They didn't only shackle us to give us water. There were indignities, cruelties inflicted on us. And any who fought back risked cruel retribution. Those who would not submit had their hands and feet cut off, to permanently cripple their ability to bend ever again. For a long time, I weathered those abuses. But every month, I could feel the full moon invigorating me with its power. And I looked for a way to escape."

Hama turned as that grunting sound came closer. Katara opened her flask, but Hama waved her back. A rhino was moving into sight. "It was because of those cruelties that I realized, where there is life, there is water," Hama said. "The rats were my subjects, and I learned that animals are basically nothing more than skins filled with liquid. I spent years... decades perfecting the technique. First was the rats, but soon, I had moved onto larger prey," the rhino spotted Hama, and began to angrily motion, then began to charge.

Katara ran forward to help, but Hama reached forward, a snarl on her face, her hands crooked and strained. The rhino came to a complete stop. She tensed downward, and the beast was slammed down into the grass and humus. Hama turned to Katara with a malicious smile. "The ultimate technique in waterbending," she said. "Utilizing every drop of water inside a living creature and bending it to your will. _Bloodbending_."

* * *

Toph ran her hands along the floor, feeling the boards under the kitchen. She nodded. "There's definitely something under there. It's heavily padded. It's almost like this crazy old bat built this house to screw with me," Toph said.

Sokka looked at the floor. He couldn't see anything. "Where is it?" he asked.

Toph pointed, "Right there, but I can't figure out how she's..."

Sokka pulled his sword and began to hack at the floor. The Space Sword sliced through the boards like paper, and he quickly penetrated into a cellar. Great mounds of hay lined the walls as he went down. What was Hama trying so hard to hide this time? Sokka walked down, a torch in one hand and his sword in the other. "Um, shouldn't I go first?" Aang asked.

"I'm blind and he's still pushed me aside," Toph commented.

Sokka ignored both. As he moved deeper, he began to hear the sounds of somebody struggling, chains rattling. Grunts. He found another wooden door at the bottom of this stairwell, and he cut it down, not even bothering to check if it was locked. Inside, he beheld... a room full of chains. There was only one person in them, though. Ty Lee. Sokka ran to her side and pulled the metal gag from her mouth.

"Oh, thank Agni," She stammered, trying to blink past her tears of fear. "It was like something took over my body. I couldn't control myself. I was helpless!"

"Hama," Sokka said. He quickly cut through the rest of her chains. She nodded, leaning against him.

"She was watching me. Smiling at me. She didn't say a word, but I know she was going to kill me," Ty Lee said, clinging tightly. Water Tribe or no Water Tribe, nobody hurt the people Sokka loved.

"Katara's still with Hama," Sokka said. He quickly moved up into the light. Everybody's eyes went wide when Ty Lee was dragged up. That's what the hay was there for; to make the cellar soundproof. Ty Lee looked at Sokka, then at Aang.

"Then we have to help her," Aang said. He looked at Ty Lee. "Will you help us?"

Ty Lee blinked back tears of fear, but she nodded. That's Sokka's girl.

"Then let's go kick a crazy bitch's ass!" Toph said. Leave it to the earthbender to say it most concisely. They moved into the night.

* * *

Hama moved closer to the beast, which grunted now in terror at her approach. Katara was transfixed. "The next month, I took control of the guard. Imagine his horror when it was his hand which released me from all my binds, after so many years of his thoughtless and callous cruelty. I could have killed him slowly. I should have. But I did not risk my freedom on a proper revenge," Hama now touched the beast, staring back at Katara. "Once you perfect these techniques, you will have complete control of anything... or anyone."

"But you killed him?" she asked, unable to truly understand what she was hearing. "I mean, when you got out, you still killed him?"

Hama smiled. "It was instantaneous and painless. Just a matter of using the same principle to gain water from the plants... but on a more complex structure," Hama tore, and the rhino gave a stutter of a bellow. Then, it was silent, his skin falling inwards. A huge blob of water seeped out of it, floating in Hama's control. "Pulling the water out of an animal, whatever animal that might be, kills it before it even realizes that it's dead."

Katara was horrified. "But I can't do that! I'm not a murderer!" she shouted.

"It doesn't matter what you choose," Hama said, letting the water fall away, a final insult to the dead beast. "The power exists, and you _will_ use it!" she took a step closer. "It is your duty to do whatever it takes to end this war and destroy the Fire Nation. I have been doing my part, every month since the day I escaped my imprisonment. Together, I don't doubt we could topple the Fire Lord himself!"

"You're out of your mind!" Katara said. She bent the water out of her flask. "You're the one who's been killing those people, leaving those dessicated bodies!"

"They imprisoned me just because I was a waterbender. They tortured me for decades," Hama said, her voice a conduit of hate. "Now, they deserve the same. And you will be my instrument."

"Never!" Katara said, bending her water out into a spike toward Hama. Hama just casually bent the spike into a stream, and let it flow around her, before hurling it back. Katara dodged her own water. "I'll never use bloodbending and I'll never help you murder innocent people!"

"How are they innocent?" Hama shouted. "They were implicitly responsible for everything which happened to my people. To your people!"

"No, they weren't," Katara said. She bent the water out of a number of trees, sending it surging toward the old woman. She countered by creating a vortex around her with the fluids from the dead rhino. "The people here probably never knew about that prison! Most of the people in the Fire Nation just want to live in peace!" Hama smiled, then reached out, her fingers seeking and crooked. Katara's bending form pulled, and she felt tremendous pain, as though every muscle in her arm were exploding at once. She felt herself dragged down to her knees, her head smashed into the dirt.

"You should have waited until after I taught you bloodbending to stand against me," Hama said, confidently. "You will not fight against me. You cannot. I control every muscle and vein in your body."

"Stop this," Katara said, feeling that horrible sensation running through her. That feeling that she wasn't in control. Wait... she understood that feeling. It was strong, but she could still feel the moon pressing down on her. "Stop this, or I will."

"You are in no position to make demands. I am the last waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe!" Hama said. But Katara ignored her, taking that sensation she felt in her body and... reversing it. She didn't know how to explain it better. But the cling left her arms, her legs, her neck. She rose, her eyes snapping with fury.

"You're not the last waterbender of the South," Katara said, an odd calm overtaking her voice. "_I am_. And I am a much stronger bender than you will ever be."

Hama's confidence was broken. She looked at Katara, standing before her, immune and enraged. Katara didn't know what she looked like. She didn't much care to. Her impact on Hama was all the information that she needed. She knew different benders of the same element could be stronger than each other. Azula and Zuko were a classic example, as were Toph and just about anybody one could pair her with. And she felt that same gulf here, standing before the old woman.

"Katara!" Sokka's voice came. "Get away from her! She's the person killing people in the woods."

Hama smirked as the other teenagers approached. "You might be immune to my bloodbending, but are your friends?"

Katara's eyes went wide. And so did Sokka's, as he jerkily pulled his sword from its sheath and began swinging it... at Katara. "What's happening to me! Katara, help!"

Ty Lee leapt toward Hama, but Hama just twisted her vision and Ty Lee landed hard, contorting painfully on the sod. She screamed. "I should have known you were too soft hearted, Katara," Hama said. "Traveling with the enemy! Letting her get so _close_ to one of your family! You should be ashamed!"

"Let her go!" Katara shouted. Aang and Toph moved to intercept the insane waterbender. Hama cast out another hand, and Toph let out the most horrifying scream Katara had ever heard come from the girl. She crumpled into a tight ball, as through trying to wrap herself around her burned arms. "STOP THAT!"

"Why should I?" Hama asked. Aang began to bend fire, but Hama forced a stream of water out of a tree, and smashed that water through the flames, snuffing them. She then turned a hand toward Aang, and he was dragged downward, then turned to face Katara. "Considering that I now have you outnumbered."

"Katara! Run!" Sokka shouted. "It's like my brain has a mind of its own!"

"I can't control myself!" Aang shouted, pain obvious in his voice. He punched and flailed at Katara, the least that he could have possibly done, considering he was the Avatar, and she probably couldn't make people bend against their wills. Sokka, though, with his meteor sword was an incredibly dangerous threat. He swiped and thrusted toward her, and she tried to gain control of them, but the very idea horrified her. Every time she began to feel the water inside their bodies, she recoiled.

"Don't hurt your friends," Hama taunted. Katara's rage blossomed. She might not be able to bloodbend Sokka and Aang, but Hama? She turned, and cast out her hands toward Hama, that same seeking, crooked gesture. She felt the water. And she demanded it come.

Hama let out a scream of alarm, and she was dragged toward Katara. But Hama also cast out her hands; Aang and Sokka came toward _her_. Sokka, she caught by the throat, his sword above his head. Aang was trapped in a kneel on the ground, directly under Sokka's blade. Katara's eyes went wide.

"A deadly choice," Hama said smugly. "You are going to let me walk away, Katara. You are going to let me do my work, without any interference from you."

"And if I don't?" Katara asked.

"Then will have to kill me, because if you don't, I guarantee that you won't like what happens," Hama smiled, staring up under her brows at Katara. "If you try to smash me away, to cut me down with your ice, then I bend Sokka and he stabs your little firebender boyfriend. If you try to throw him to safety, then I tear the water out of your brother. You have no options, Katara. You're going to let me walk away."

"No! I can't do that!" she said.

"Why not? These people don't want your help. If they knew who you were, they would imprison you, bind you up and do _unspeakable_ things to you. Why should you care what they think, what they need?" Hama said.

Katara's eyes welled with tears. "I will _never_ turn my back on the people who need me. Even if it costs me everything. I am not you, Hama. You've lost yourself to hatred."

"And you have lost everything to weakness," Hama chided. She put on a patronizing smile. "Now let me go, otherwise, people you care about are going to start to die."

Sokka looked at his sister. "Save him," he said quietly, straining against the hard fingers around his throat. "He's all that matters. Save him!"

Hama smiled. "I guess the choice has been ma..."

"_**NO!**_" Katara shrieked. She felt a tearing as she spun away from Hama. In her hands, a blob of water, just a little smaller than Hama. She fell to her knees, tears flooding out of her eyes. The water flowed away, down into the ground. She couldn't bear to look back at what she'd done, at the dessicated corpse that _she_ had created. "Tui La, forgive me," she whispered, beginning to sob. "I'm a bloodbender."

The screaming around her stopped, as Hama's poisonous influence ended with her death. People fell flat, and rose up. But Katara didn't see them. She just stared at her hands. There was no blood on them, not literally. But she felt dirty. She felt evil. She'd just... killed... somebody.

"Katara, are you alright?" Aang asked. She looked up at him, her vision blurred by tears. He was conflicted. As though he couldn't think of whether to hold her tight or push her away. Sobs began to break out of her throat.

"No," she cried. "No I'm not."

Her friends moved around her, trying to give her comfort. She didn't deserve any.

* * *

Zuko leafed through the correspondence in the box. When Uncle had been taken back to the Fire Nation in chains, everything that had been in his possession, in his estates, or signed under his name was brought into the Vault, deep under the Royal Palace. What he'd seen on Ember Island just taunted him.

_We cannot continue this any longer. My brother suspects._

It was written by Uncle, and he found it in Mother's things. The implications were staring him the face, but he had to be careful. Every time he did something without thinking, it exploded in his face, usually in a fantastic way. So he was careful, and patient. He looked through all of the letters that Uncle had accumulated over the years. He was never one to throw things into a bonfire, which for Zuko, was both a blessing and a curse. Blessing, because anything useful would still be around, curse, because there was so damned much of it.

Zuko moved to another box, this time just looking for letters _not_ written by Uncle. After a few more minutes, he found something that was out of place. Rather than the very clear and concise lettering of his uncle, this had a flowing hand. If Zuko wasn't already sitting down, he would have fallen to his knees. It was from Mother.

_Thank you so much, Iroh. If it weren't for you, I don't know what I would do_.

It went on, mentioning other things that Zuko's mother _shouldn't _be saying to Iroh. He read it again. He knew mother's script. This _was _definitely hers. He looked at the other letters it was packaged with. These were from a long time ago. Perhaps twenty years ago. He sat, staring at the letter, which gave more weight to his suspicions. Where did he go from here? Did he talk to Uncle again? Maybe Father? No, that was stupid. Father wouldn't have known about this, and if he did, it would just anger him. The last thing Zuko needed right now was to needlessly open an old wound. Father was not a forgiving type.

Besides, he wasn't even sure if this meant what he thought it did. It could be just a miscommunication, something that he misunderstood because he only had bits and pieces. No, he would have to be as subtle and crafty as his sister. If he could even pull that off. He rose, and left the vault, but not before burning this letter as well. For a long moment, he stared at the blue flames in his hand. He didn't understand where they came from. Azula was always the strongest firebender. Why was he suddenly rocketing up from his level, so far below her, right up to hers?

Zuko left the vault. When he did, he gave a start. Mai was right there, waiting for him. "Find what you were looking for?" she asked, evenly. Not flatly. She wanted to know. Ever since she came back from Ember Island, she was a lot more open, a lot easier to gauge.

"I'm not sure," Zuko said honestly. Mai nodded, apparently satisfied, and took his arm as they walked back up toward the city.

"You know what I'd like right about now?" Mai said. She leaned closer. "A fruit tart."

* * *

_Leave a review. I'll give you imaginary cookies._

_No I won't._


	7. Fire Fountain City

**Oooooh. It's backwards! Everything's CRAAAAAZY! Seriously though, everything during this chunk had to happen in this specific order in order for the story I'm telling to occur. Yeah, it seems odd, but sometimes, stuff is odd. We feel sorry for Azula, we look at Toph's mind again, and in this chapter, SOMEBODY DIES! It also amuses me that Aang never seems to be around when important things are done or said. Also... remember how much disdain Muul had for sandbenders? Yeah...**

**On a note raised in a previous review: For all elemental martial artists, there are two primary catagories, namely skill, and power. Bumi is the strongest earthbender in the world, but Toph is the most skilled. Different varieties of bender gain power at different rates, regardless of skill. Waterbenders' power tends to increase in a fashion similar to a dose-response curve, slowly at first, then very quickly over a short period, then tapering off and slowly increasing to its plateau. Firebenders, on the other hand, are a linear progression which usually takes fifteen years. Most firebenders manifest during their early teens; the fact that both Azula and Zuko started firebending when they were five and eight tells something about them as benders. And as will eventually be explained in text, earthbenders just keep getting stronger as they age until they're around 30, which is why so many military earthbenders are middle aged. As for airbenders? No clue, since I have no reference.**

**The gulf between skill and power can be felt in many places. Avatar trumps everything, of course, but outside of that, there are other factors. Ozai is not the most powerful firebender, but he is the most skilled, with Jeong Jeong and Zuko closer behind than Azula would be. Toph doesn't have Bumi's power, but Bumi doesn't have Toph's techniques (For an interesting reason I accidentally invented, then decided was awesome). Katara was established as a waterbending prodigy. She has monumental power, but still has a lot to learn before she's as skilled as Master Pakku. And Azula? When she reaches her plateau in three years, she'll be the most powerful unenhanced bender of any one element, in the world. That's why it took the Blood Moon, which didn't just multiply but rather raised to an exponent Katara's waterbending powers to even match her in Children of Earth. Azula gets a boost every century. Katara's super boost, when her menarche coincides with the full moon, could happen as often as several times a year. As a particularly dry individual points out, it's safer to get into a fight with Azula. She could fry you with lightning, but depending on the day, Katara might throw a thunderstorm at you. Azula's still growing slowly, but Katara's catching up, and she's not alone in that. Hama was very skilled with bloodbending, so she could multitask; it is skill which Katara lacks, not raw power. _Definitely _not raw power.**

* * *

Toph was running. She could feel the heat around her, the firebenders closing in on all sides. Ahead of her was the greatest fire of all, emerging naturally out of the ground, and fed through the enormous statue of Ozai, which seemed to scream at the heavens. She turned, knowing what was coming, but all the knowing in the world couldn't prepare her. She felt that percussion hit her, and she was thrown to her back, rolling to a stop near the foot of that statue.

She forced herself up to a crouch, and felt that sensation. She was here. Toph thrust a finger out at her. "How could you do this to me?" she screamed. "I trusted you and you betrayed me!"

Katara stared back, her back set and Toph could only imagine rage in her eyes. "You brought this on yourself."

Toph was about to smash the earth, but she felt something binding her. A net, holding her so tightly she couldn't move. Toph looked back at the waterbender one more time. "I swear I'll kill you for this! I'll never rest until I'm standing in your blood!"

Katara turned to the men and women standing around the helpless earthbender. "Take her away. The world is better off without people like her in it."

* * *

_Earlier_

* * *

Aang hopped out of bed, pleased as always to be awake. Ever since he'd taken his involuntary six month nap, he found sleeping more and more of a chore. "Alright!" he shouted. "Who's up for some training!"

They hadn't left Grand Ember. Partially because Aang didn't feel comfortable having Appa fly yet, after its sickness, and partly because he didn't know if the others were quite up to it themselves. Toph rolled over and groaned, still rubbing her arms. Ty Lee stayed close to Sokka, and didn't speak much. Sokka himself kept staring over at Katara.

When Aang turned to her, he felt his spirits plummet just as fast as everybody else's. His smile curdled, and he walked over to Katara. She was balled up in her sleeping bag, staring away from everybody else. Aang moved down beside her, and lay a hand on her shoulder. She pulled away like burned her. "Katara, are you alright?" he asked. Dumb question.

"Go away," she whispered.

"Katara, don't do this," Aang said. "I need you."

"Just leave me alone," she said, and tightened up on herself. Aang walked a little distance away, and leaned against Appa. After a few minutes, Toph finally roused herself and walked over. The Avatar and the metalbender shared a moment of silence, leaning against the shedding beast.

"She's not handling this well," Toph said.

"What are you talking about?" Aang asked.

"Yeah, she killed the bitch. Good riddance," Toph said. She rubbed her burned arms for a moment. "If she hadn't done it, I would have, and it wouldn't have been so merciful."

"Toph, don't say that," Aang said. "You couldn't have killed..."

"Really? Do you know me that well? What do you think I _did_ with all those Dai Li who were chasing me through the Royal Palace? Served them tea?" Toph asked. "Sometimes, it's the option that nobody wants to talk about, but the only one that can keep things from getting worse. I might not have been able to fight, but I could still see. She was either going to kill you or Sokka, or else get off scot-free and spend the rest of her life murdering civilians."

"We could have captured her," Aang said. Toph leaned over and gave him a shove, even though she had to flap pain out of her stinging limb as a result.

"Think about it, Twinkletoes," Toph said. "She got out of a Fire Nation facility specifically built to house waterbenders. I figure that's got to be some top quality prison, and she just waltzed right out. So tell me how you're going to imprison a bitch who can turn her guards into her accomplices?" Toph waited. "I didn't think so. Face it, Aang. Sometimes, the only solution is a bloody one."

"I can't believe you're excusing that sort of behavior," Aang said. Toph turned to him.

"What do you think the Fire Nation would do to you if they captured you? I wouldn't be pretty. I'm sure death would be the kindest thing they could do for you," she pointed out. She stopped, taking a step away.

"Would you have done it?" Aang asked. "Would you have killed Hama?"

"In a twinkling," she answered. Aang recoiled a bit. Toph turned back as she was walking away. "Katara's broken up about this, Aang. She's not a killer. She just took the only option she had. Don't be such a wuss and go talk to her." Aang stood and took a few steps toward the balled-up waterbender. "And if you get preachy, I'll kick your ass!"

For some reason, Aang couldn't help but chuckle at Toph. Even when she was horrifying, she was still funny. He moved to Katara's side and knelt down beside her. "Go away," she muttered.

"I'm not going anywhere," Aang said softly. He was torn. More torn than he had been in a long time. On one hand, she had just killed somebody. On the other hand, she was saving his, her brother's, and everybody elses' lives. And on yet another hand, since those sorts of things occasionally happened, he wasn't in much of a position to judge, because he'd done the exact same thing, albeit on a much larger and more devastating scale during the Siege of the North.

"Why can't you leave me alone?" Katara asked.

"Because I know what you're feeling," Aang said. He reached over, laying his hand on her hair. She hadn't brushed it. Or cleaned it at all since that fight. He moved closer. "I know that dread, that sense of weight."

"I shouldn't be here," she said, finally sitting up. She looked like she hadn't slept since that night. It was quite possible she hadn't. "I can't be around you right now."

"Why not?" Aang asked. "We need you. I need you. Everybody's hurting. We don't stand a chance without you by our side. So why do you suddenly need to leave?"

"Because I don't deserve to be here," she said, her eyes leaking tears. Aang pulled her close, and she didn't resist him.

"We all make mistakes. We're human. But we have to accept that those mistakes are part of us, and move on. We can endeavor never to repeat them. We learn from them, grow from them. But we can't let them cripple us. It took me a long time to learn that lesson," Aang said. "And you helped me learn it."

Katara just leaned against him, letting tears flow as she silently looked out at the ocean stretching into the distance. There were days where Aang felt like a kid, full of vigor and energy and hope and zeal. And then, there were days like now. When he felt old. And all he wanted was a bit of warmth, comfort. He held close to Katara. He held onto comfort.

* * *

Sokka walked through the streets, his arms hooked up over his sword. Fire Fountain City was a nice enough place. Certainly warm, lots of decent seeming people. And every type of fish known to stomach. Which made Sokka all the more miserable, because he was hungry, and they were broke.

"I'm hungry," Ty Lee whined, holding her belly and not skipping, hand walking, or balancing on a clothesline, for once.

"We're all hungry," Sokka said, a note of recollection in his voice. "It's like the good old days, just me, Aang and Katara, half-starved on our way to the North."

"And these aren't the good old days?" Toph asked.

"Well, we are hungry, we're just as poor, but now, people get a lot closer to killing us then they used to," Sokka said.

"I'm hungry!" Ty Lee said again, pouting for all she was worth.

"We know!" Toph answered. She scowled for a second, rolling the silver, pentagonal coin, which happened to be their very last, over her fingers. She perked up a bit. "Wait a minute. How'd y'all like to be well fed criminals?"

"We're not robbing an armored carriage. That's just too risky," Sokka shot the idea down, but Toph was shaking her head.

"I grasp the concept of acceptable risk, Loverboy," Toph said. "I was talking about having ourselves a little wager."

Sokka followed Toph's finger, down an alley to where a man was playing some sort of shell-based gambling game. "What, and lose the last of our money?"

Toph smirked. "I've got a lot of experience with jokers like this. Just stay close and don't screw this up for me."

"Sorry, but it looks like you lose," the game master said. A gambler let out a mournful wail and walked away. He looked up. "Anybody else want to try their luck? Make a bet! Just spot the pebble and you could win!"

Toph quickly lost her smirk and looked for all the world like a naïve ingénue. "But how could _I_ possibly play. I'm blind!" she said, innocently. The game master smirked at her.

"You don't need to see to be lucky," he waved her in. She didn't move.

"Um, he just waved to you," Ty Lee said. Toph gave a start, then slowly crawled across the alley until her questing hands found the table. She explored them, finding each of the four shells, then sitting back on her knees. The gamemaster gathered all four shells up, showing the green pebble under one. He quickly snapped them all down, then began to shift them about in a confusing fashion.

Toph began to smirk. Sokka kept track of the pebble, and finally, the game master stopped, lining up the four shells. She reached out and tapped along the table until she touched a shell. The wrong shell. Sokka knew it was the one at the other end. He was about to say something when the gamemaster raised the one she chose revealing... a green pebble. How?

"Well, aren't we lucky? You're amazing at this," the game master said. He set down two silver coins onto her side of the table. "But wouldn't it be nice to make things a bit more... interesting?"

"What do you mean?" Toph said, innocently. Sokka knew that other people would eat this up, but this just seemed downright bizarre to come out of the blind earthbender.

"How about thirty silver, against that fine sword the young man behind you is carrying."

"I'm not giving up my..." Sokka said, but Toph reached back and snatched it from him without even turning and laid it on the table.

"Fifty and we've got a game," she said. Sokka bit back a yelp of alarm, but Toph was up to something. He knew she'd picked the wrong shell, but still won. The game master began to shuffle the shells again, but this time, Toph made a small gesture in the middle of it all. The shells were lined up again, and she pawed forward and made her choice.

"I'm so sorry, it looks like you've..." the game master began talking before even lifting the shell, but when it did, his eyes turned down. There was a green pebble under it. He was struck dumb. She smiled, reaching for the bag that he'd set against the irreplaceable and unique weapon from the heavens, snatching it away, and hopping to her feet.

"Wow, I am really good at this. Thanks for the money!" she said, before turning and walking away. Sokka quickly grabbed his sword and joined her.

"_ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?_" Sokka whispered as loud as whisper could get without being a shout, and in Tianxia just to be sure. Toph just turned to him with a patronizing smile.

"There was never any risk," she said. "Only a frickin' idiot would play 'spot the piece of rock' with an earthbender. He just seeded pebbles under all the shells to lure people in and get them betting large, then palming the rocks so the mark would eventually lose bigger than he won. Simple strategy."

"But something could have gone wrong," Ty Lee pointed out, but her eyes were transfixed on the money. It was astounding how quickly poverty could have an effect on the rich.

Toph shook her head. "I've been running rackets like that for years," she said. "By the time I decided to join up with Twinkletoes, I was sitting on a twenty three warrants for it. Well, twenty three that anybody could prove I was involved with," she laughed, and bounced the bag.

"We could get food!" Ty Lee shrieked with joy, bouncing up and down. She hugged both of them individually, then managed to haul all three into a group hug. Toph rolled her eyes, but even the greatest earthbender in the world was no match for Ty Lee's enthusiasm.

* * *

In the darkness of night, Azula watched. For all the years she grew up, she and Zuko had always been on different levels when it came to firebending. He was a remedial, always struggling to grasp the simplest of forms. She was the prodigy, so far ahead of where everybody... anybody could possibly be that they had to ship in teachers from every corner of the Fire Nation just to keep up with her. By the time she was ten, she had already exhausted every master the Fire Nation had to offer, and only Jeong Jeong could give her meaningful direction.

She remembered the first time her fire became blue. She was eleven, and it made Father smile. She had been beside herself with joy for the rest of the week. She remembered the first time she bent the lightnings. She was twelve. The Fire Sages had never known one so young to be able to reproduce it. But then, the ability to control lightning was almost unheard of outside of the royal family. Only they and Jeong Jeong had ever displayed it.

She mastered... something... at thirteen, but she didn't know what. For some reason, when she tried to remember what happened when she was thirteen, fourteen years old, she just couldn't grasp anything. It was ambiguous and hazy. But it didn't matter. What was important is that she was the most powerful firebender in the world, only behind her father in terms of skill, and second to nobody in terms of power.

So why, then, did she feel such apprehension when she watched her brother drill in the royal Fire Court? A year ago, she would have chided him for his uselessness and his foolishness, employing forms which no self-respecting firebender would ever think to employ. But in his hands, those bizarre, unthinkable forms went from a thing of jokes, to something beyond lethal. Every movement of his hands and feet lashed out with brilliant blue fire, as hot and deadly as her own. Ever since she brought him back into the fold at Ba Sing Se, he had been bending the azure fire. And that meant her brother was catching up to her. It had taken years, but he was catching up.

And that made her afraid.

She didn't know _why_ it did. Having two children who could bend the unique, incredibly powerful blue fires meant that Ozai, that Father, was a remarkable specimen, that his bloodline ran pure. Lu Ten had never bent blue fire. Lu Ten was barely a firebender. She and her brother added to the glory of Father. But still, every blast of blue fire that tore across the stone, halted only by the damp air from the troughs of water surrounding it, sent a shiver like an icy knife running up her back.

"You don't deserve to be so afraid," Mother's voice came to her. Azula turned, and could see her back, standing in front of a mirror. Her face, visible only in the reflection, looked to her. "You should be happy for your brother, and he should be happy for you."

"Of course you'd be happy that your favorite child is going to be the next prodigy," Azula snarled. "It doesn't matter! I am still Crown Princess! Nobody can take that away from me!"

"I didn't want to take anything away from you," Ursa said quietly. "You deserved the throne every bit as much as Zuko did. Maybe even more..."

"I know. Now you're being..."

"...once," Ursa continued. Azula's eye twitched. "How long has it been since you were calm?"

"I'm perfectly calm," Azula said, quieting the flames inside her.

"You're in control. That is not calm," Ursa said. "Please. Just take some time to think about this. Promise me you'll actually think about it. Remember the way things used to be."

"I remember," Azula said, turning away from her brother. "I remember all the time you spent with him, seeing to his every need, and you always left me alone in the dark! Only Father ever cared for me!"

"That isn't true," Ursa said. She slowly ran her fingers along the edges of the mirror. "I don't know if Ozai ever cared about anybody."

"You don't know what my father feels for me!" Azula shouted.

"No, I don't," Ursa admitted. "But I don't think it is love. I loved you, Azula. I still do."

"Don't try to trick me," Azula snapped. "If you loved me, why was every moment of your time given to Zuko? Where were you when I was young?"

"You don't remember, do you?" Ursa said. "Just like you don't remember what happened when you were thirteen."

"It doesn't matter if I don't..." Azula stopped dead. When she was... "But you were already gone when I turned thirteen."

Ursa wasn't there anymore. Azula felt a cold run through her, like a solar eclipse on the coldest day of the year. She had to focus herself, to stop dithering about regarding Zuko. She was going to be Fire Lord. And she had to be ready for it.

* * *

Katara looked up when the others came walking back in. Aang had only just left, since even an outpouring of emotion and support had to heed the call of a full bladder. Toph, Sokka, and Ty Lee looked entirely too pleased with themselves. And they were carrying entirely too much swag. At least four pots of food, one of them riding easily atop Toph's head. The pots alone must have cost a fair amount, and the food inside them? It beggared the imagination.

"Where did you get those?" Katara asked, temporarily shelving her dark mood. "I thought we were out of money."

"Toph made us some money," Sokka said proudly. He reached over and slugged the blind earthbender in the arm. This caused the pot on her head to shift, and she had to drop the one in her arms, catching it with a foot, so that the other didn't shatter onto the ground.

"Hey!" Toph said. "_I_ punch people. Not you!"

"Yeah, she scammed the people at the tables, and was all sneaky and they never caught on and it was so much fun!" Ty Lee said, a wide grin plastered over her features.

"Earthbending to win at gambling," Sokka confirmed. "Classic!"

Katara scowled. "So you cheated?" she asked. "Don't you know how risky that is? If somebody caught you, they'd throw you in prison, and all it would take was somebody looking at an out of date wanted poster for us all to be up a river."

"Up a river?" Ty Lee asked, a bit confused.

"It's a Water Tribe thing," Sokka said. She seemed mollified by that.

The waterbender shook her head, though. "You shouldn't make a habit of this. It's too risky."

Toph smirked. "I think you just don't want any of us to have fun."

"This isn't about fun! Besides, I'm fun!" Katara said. She realized how moronic it sounded saying that, looking as she didn't doubt she did. Toph raised an eyebrow. "Sometimes."

"Look, I promise that I won't let things get out of hand," Toph said.

"Me too," Sokka said. "Although, I wonder if you could use that lie-detector stuff to win at the Tall tables..."

"Sokka..." Katara said.

"Right, sorry, nevermind," Sokka put down his food. "Now, if you'll excuse me, we've got another load to retrieve."

"Another load?" Katara asked. "How much money did you make?"

"Just go play in your puddles with Twinkletoes," Toph said, waving as she walked away. They had already gone down the road toward Fire Fountain City when Aang returned from his quickly earthbent latrine, and spied all the food on the ground.

"Wow. Ask of the universe, and the universe provides, eh Katara?" he asked, smiling.

* * *

They were filthy, stinkin' rich. And it was all because of blind, weak, defenseless little Toph Beifong. Oh, if her parents could see her now. Of course, Sokka and Sugarqueen had been more than helpful in her little games. She still couldn't believe that she managed to pull the old flopsie-scam, and have Sokka not burst out laughing while the mounds of 'recompense' grew larger and larger. She had to hand it to him, he might not be much of a public speaker, but he was a hell of an actor.

"Alright, this is getting out of hand," Katara said, watching Sokka sort out the coins on the ground into piles. Rectangular coppers, pentagonal silvers, and 'U' shaped gold, more than enough for any family to live on for... well, a good decade or so. "People have to be paying attention to you. You're putting us all in jeopardy with this!"

"You need to grow a sense of humor," Toph said. "Come on, we're just scamming people who made all of their money scamming other people. What are they going to do? Complain to the town guards? They'd get thrown in prison faster than I would. And I severely doubt that there's any prison in this dinky rock that could hold me."

"I can't believe you," Katara said, leaning back against a tree trunk. "You're like some sort of wild child. It's almost as though you can't stop! Don't you understand the consequences..."

"I understand plenty," Toph said, chucking down another bag of money beside Sokka. He was more than happy to do all the counting. "I _understand_ that we're five teenagers wandering the world, with all the money we could ever want, and no parents to tell us what to do."

"There it is," Katara said. "This is about your mother, isn't it?"

"Don't get all psychological on me," Toph said, a scowl on her face. "You met my mother. You talked to her. I am nobody's dirty little secret!"

Katara's voice was surprisingly quiet. "You can't just pretend that your parents don't exist. Somewhere out there, a woman is getting the news from third and fourth hand sources that her daughter is dead, and its breaking her heart to pieces. Are you telling me that you don't care about that at all?"

"I joined you losers so I could help Aang and be a better earthbender," Toph said, trying quite hard to not fly off the handle.

"When did I mention Aang?" Katara asked. "I don't think you hate your parents," Katara cut her off as she was about to interject, which was impressive, because it had never happened before. "You might resent how they treated you, but they're still family, and probably the only family you're going to have."

Toph stared at Katara for a second. "What did you say?" she asked grimly. "Are you saying that I'm going to live and die alone? Is that what you mean?"

Katara seemed stung. "That wasn't what I meant, I just meant..."

"Oh, so you and Twinkletoes can go and have yourselves a nice little family, but Toph Beifong is doomed to die surrounded by rubble and enemies? Well, I've got two things to say about that. First of all, Air Nomads don't raise their own children, so _good luck_ with those kids you're dreaming of. Second, that's _exactly_ the way I want to go down! I'll stop making money the way I do best whenever I feel like it."

Toph turned and walked away from Katara, who had been stunned into silence. She grabbed Sokka and began to drag him away by his collar as she moved. She didn't even need to earthbend to do it; she was just _a lot_ stronger than she looked. "Um, I guess I'm going with Toph," Sokka said.

After dragging Sparky for a short distance, he finally flailed up to his feet. "Come on. You want to spend some of that money?"

"You were being a bit rough on my sister," Sokka said. Toph scowled.

"Trust me. I wasn't being half as rough as I wanted to be," Toph could tell Sokka was raising an eyebrow at her. "The whole time I was talking to her, no matter how calm she seemed, she was hammering away inside like she was about to fly apart."

Sokka nodded. "That's the way Katara deals with things," he said. "Whenever she's in pain, she just stuffs it down and keeps pushing forward. I think that's how she learned to cope back when we were kids."

"Yeah, well, sooner or later, she's gonna pop, and I don't want to be anywhere near her when that happens."

"You need to have a bit more faith in my sister," Sokka said. Toph thought of a lot of things to say about that, but didn't feel like getting into another argument, for once. Her arms still stung from what that crazy water-witch did to her. It had gone down over the last few days, but for a while, it was like Azula was roasting her all over again. The silence stretched until they walked back into the city.

Sokka pulled up short, his heartrate picking up a bit. "A hawk! I always wanted one of those!" he said, turning. "Can I have some money, I want to buy a hawk!"

Toph frowned. "Why would you want a hawk?"

"Because they're cool!" Sokka said. Then he paused for a moment. "That and they can carry messages and documents."

"Fine, go nuts," Toph said. He let out a somewhat girlish squeel of delight and ran into a building with some money. It was odd that Toph, an underdeveloped fifteen year old girl, was the manlier of the two of them. After a few minutes, he came back out, with some kind of bird riding on his arm.

"Hawky, this is Toph. Toph, Hawky," Sokka said.

"S'up?" Toph said idly. The hawk keened at her.

"Hawky, I expect you to be on your best behavior back at camp. We have a lemur there, and I don't want you picking any fights," Sokka said. Toph rolled her eyes. "Who's a pretty birdy? Who's got pretty feathers?"

"Can we get moving now? I want to see if I can get a Tall dealer to burst a blood vessel," Toph said. Sokka started out by nodding, but after a few steps, he drew to a stop, staring at a wall. "Well, come on!"

"Toph, you'd better take a look at this," he said, pointing to that wall. Toph just shot him a look which said 'are you frickin' kidding me?' He let out a nervous laugh, and went on. "It's a wanted poster. Of you!"

"Can't be. I'm dead," Toph said, crossing her arms. They stung, but she was making a point. Sokka shook his head.

"It's got a picture of you and everything," there was a pause. "But I don't think it's... 'official'. I could have drawn this."

"Did you put a bounty on me?" Toph asked, amused.

"What? Why would I...? That doesn't..." Sokka asked. He tore the thing down, a flap of paper now in his hand. He flapped it toward Toph. "We need to tell Aang and Katara about this."

"The hell we do," Toph said. "Look, we'll be out of Fire Fountain City soon, and when we leave, all of this will just be a bad memory. Trust me. I know how this goes. In a couple of days, nobody will even remember we were ever here."

"You sound pretty confident of that," Toph smiled at Sokka's words.

"Of course I am. I'm the Blind Bandit, remember? Now here, go take some money and by yourself a nice map of the Fire Nation. You know what? Make it an atlas."

She knew how to push Sokka's buttons. "I _am_ a fan of expensive atlases," Sokka said, tempted.

* * *

Katara knew she was having trouble. Usually, when it came to waterbending, Aang, begin the Avatar as he was, had the power, but she had skill, technique and experience. Now, her technique was sloppy and her skill had gone right down the ice-hole. But she didn't stop practicing. She had to keep going. Still, Aang could sense that she wasn't at her best, so his question came as no great surprise.

"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked again as her catch of his water stream faltered a bit. Katara sighed, sitting down and letting Aang put the water back in the cookpot. No reason not to save water when they could.

"I'll be fine," she said. She'd been through worse than this. Ty Lee was snoozing against Appa's leg, as she did. She didn't sleep through the night like most people, instead preferring to take short naps at the oddest times. It was refreshing to have her asleep for once. She'd come back from the city absolutely bouncing with glee from her fancy new dresses. If she bought much more, they were going to need another Appa to carry all of their stuff. And as far as Katara knew, there weren't too many Appas to go around. Crunching in the dirt drew the attention of both to the road leading up to their campsite overlooking the small bay. Katara couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Sokka, tell me you didn't buy a bird?"

"Not just a bird," Sokka said excitedly. "A messenger bird! We can send everything we found to Dad and the invasion force!"

Katara had to give it to her brother. That wasn't a bad idea. "So how does it work?" she asked. Sokka looked like he was about to expound, a finger raised, but then, his entire expression drooped.

"I... ah... haven't figured that out yet," he said. Toph walked by, a large bag of money in her arms, looking very, very smug. Sokka on the other hand moved to where he'd piled his own money, and set down a large tome he must have just acquired. When he did, a scrap of paper fell out of a back pocket, unfurling on the ground. Katara's eyes went wide when she saw what was on it. Sokka turned, seeing it, and moved to snatch it up, but Katara was faster, for once. She turned away from him as he tried to reach around her, to get it back. She scanned the page, laboriously translating it into a language she understood. Then, her jaw dropped.

"Toph, what is this?" she asked, finally smashing her brother away from her with a flick of waterbending. The activity woke up the acrobat, who sat upright, clutching her staff with a groggy look on her face.

"What happened? Did somebody get captured again?" Ty Lee asked.

"It _sounds_ like a piece of paper," Toph said, setting the money down. "I assume you mean what's _on_ the piece of paper."

"A wanted poster, Toph?" Katara asked, anger swelling in her. "After all that trouble we went through to vanish, you just couldn't help yourself, could you? You just had to keep pushing our luck, and now it's coming back to bite us in the blubber!"

"You're not the boss of me!" Toph shouted.

"Somebody has to be!" Katara answered. "I mean, ever since you came here, you've been acting like this crazy person. You've been so out of control, and now..." Toph cut her off by turning her back. "Don't you turn your back on me when I'm talking to you!"

"Oh, and what are you going to do about it?" Toph asked, not looking back. "Send me to my room? Ground me? Send me to bed without my dinner? You act like you're trying to be my mother, but I already have one, and I don't even want _her_!"

"I'm not trying to be anybody's mother," Katara said. Sokka, Aang, and Ty Lee all got skeptical expressions on their faces, but she pressed on. "But somebody in this group has to be an adult, here. And since you're fixated on being a delinquent child, that means it has to be me!"

"Aren't I the oldest?" Sokka asked.

"By a few months," Ty Lee confirmed, but she seemed unwilling to move any deeper into the conflict, just staying close to her boyfriend and the Avatar.

Toph threw up her arms. "I can't be around you right now!" she shouted, and stormed off. Ty Lee rose as though to follow her, but Sokka shook his head.

"I'm not motherly, am I?" Katara asked.

"A bit," Aang confirmed.

"Not that there's anything wrong with that," Sokka added. But Katara got up and walked away herself. Just like Toph, she needed to be alone. She walked down to the bay, where the stone jutted overhead. The sun was creeping downward, the temperatures dropping from hellish to a bit above comfortable. She was covered in sweat, both from the heat and the unusual amount of effort it took for her to waterbend, recently. She quickly disrobed and dipped herself into the water, letting the warm brine seep into her body. She killed a woman. She could still feel that tearing as the water was pulled from the body. She destroyed the last prisoner of the South Water Tribe. Not the Fire Nation. Katara.

She wondered if she should be crying. She had, then, but now, it just seemed so... empty. Did Hama even deserve her tears? No, that wasn't what she was crying for. She wasn't weeping for Hama. She was weeping for Katara. She looked up as two pairs of feet swung over the overhang, one in boots, the other in de-soled shoes.

"Let me guess, you brought me out here to tell me your sister's not as annoying as I think she is?" Toph asked.

"Naw, she's pretty much a pain," Sokka said idly. Katara fumed at that. Saying that behind her back, and right to her face, at that! "She's always got to be right, she loves to boss us around, she never stops getting involved in other people's business..."

"I don't know how you put up with her," Toph said.

"It's not that bad," Ty Lee's voice came from above.

"In a way, I rely on that," Sokka added. His words became soft. "When our mother died, it was the worst time in my life. It was the first time that I lost somebody that important to me, and it hurt the family pretty badly. We were a mess. Dad didn't know what to do with himself. But Katara... she just had all this inner strength. She was so young, but she kept our family together, when it was threatening to just tear itself apart. She did everything she could to fill the void that Kya left when she died."

"I didn't know that," Toph said, her voice odd. Katara's head went down, staring at the waters she was floating in.

"You want to hear something weird?" Sokka said, although his tone wasn't anywhere what it usually was when he made that pronouncement. "I don't think I can remember what Mom looked like. I mean, I can remember the songs she used to sing, that tune she used to hum when she didn't think anybody was listening, but when I try to picture her face, the only face I can come up with is my sister's. It's like, for all of my life, she's the only mother that I've ever really known. She's the one who's always... been there."

Katara felt tears running from her eyes. And for once, they weren't angry or fearful or sorrowful. She'd never known that he felt that way. That she meant so much to them all.

"You know, it's not so bad that she tries to mother us," Toph said, with a tone like admitting that was about as easy as pulling out her own teeth. "I mean, she's kind, she's compassionate, and she accepts me as I am, no matter what. She lets me be myself and never judges me. My own mother doesn't even do that!" there came a sniffle from the cliff, probably from the earthbender. Then, there was a meaty thwap, and a cry of pain from Sokka. "Don't ever tell _anybody_ you saw me cry!"

Katara couldn't help but smile at that.

* * *

Ty Lee smiled all the way back into camp. It was always good to get those inner feelings out. She'd never felt so purified as that night just after she left her friends at the beach, and just before she had to fight for her life. Of course, everybody said things that needed saying, and people were healing. Except for Katara. She still had a wobbly aura ever since that night. And Ty Lee wasn't about to blame her for that.

"You know what I was thinking about?" Sokka asked. Without letting anybody guess, he continued. "Armor for Appa."

"And why would he need that?" Toph asked.

"Just a thought I had," Sokka said. "Besides, don't you think a twelve tonne monster might look more intimidating if it was covered from haunch to feet in metal and leather?"

"You've got way too much time on your hands, Loverboy," Toph muttered. The group came to the edge of the camp site, and found that Katara was there. Toph sighed, then walked ahead. "Alright, Katara. You were right about the scams. No more," she said. Katara turned to her, and had a smile.

"Well, that's sort of unfortunate," Katara said. "Because I was just looking at this. Do you know how much money you're worth?"

"When did you learn to read Huojian?" Sokka asked. She shot him a glare, and he shut up.

"Is that greed I hear in your voice?" Toph asked.

Katara shook her head. "You've made a mess, but I know how we can clean it up. This thing wasn't put out by the Fire Lord. It's a private bounty. Which means, whoever put up the money will come to collect. We need to know who's found us."

"So you're saying..."

"One last scam," Katara said. "The biggest one yet. We find out who knows we're alive, and get ten times the money you've made on all your other scams combined. I am not going to let the Fire Nation win a war because of one guy with a grudge."

Sokka and Ty Lee exchanged utterly gobsmacked looks. Toph, though, was grinning.

"So you hand me over, nick the money, I metalbend my way out of prison, we put the screws to whoever's after me, and then fly away into the sunset?" Toph let out a laugh. "That's my kind of plan. Are you sure your brother didn't have anything to do with it?"

"Hey, I can make plans too, you know," Katara said, a bit defensive. She hooked an arm over Toph's shoulder and walked down the path toward Fire Fountain City. Aang just watched them go, then turned back to the couple who remained.

"So... obviously I'm out of the loop. What just happened?" the Avatar asked.

* * *

"I swear I'll kill you for this! I'll never rest until I'm standing in your blood!"

Katara had to hand it to her. Toph really knew how to act like a psychopath. "Take her away. The world is better off without people like her in it."

Toph was dragged down the streets, while the magistrate, who had been watching from the sidelines, came closer. "You did the right thing, turning in that criminal," he said. She crossed her arms, putting on an angry expression.

"Justice is its own reward," she said. He smiled at her.

"Well, I'm really glad to hear you say that," he grinned and nodded. She hesitated.

"I still would like the reward, though," she pointed out. He sighed, and brought her to his office, a spot not too far away. As they walked, she waited just long enough to allay suspicion, then asked the question. "So, I notice this bounty doesn't carry the Fire Lord's seal. Who put it out, anyway?"

"A private citizen of means," the magistrate said. He opened his door and moved inside. "Not the usual sort you see around here. At least he wasn't a damned Azuli, but people around here just don't get that _dark,_" he said, with a pointed glance at Katara. That was right; as far as anybody in the Fire Nation was concerned, she and her brother looked like 'Azuli'.

"Dark?" she asked. The magistrate shrugged, and began to file paperwork. "What do you mean?"

"Well, madam, he's darker than you are," he pointed out. Katara tried to think of who would match that description. She felt it before she saw it. That reverberation in the ground, a pause, then another bang. The door opened, and a dark man in a broad hat walked into the room. Just behind him, Combustion Man.

"Well, if it isn't the little water witch," Gahj Muul said. He looked at the Magistrate. "Thank you so much for bringing her here. I trust you have _proper_ accommodations for her and her... friend?"

"As you stipulated," he said. The magistrate looked at Katara, quite smugly. "Nice doing business with you, bounty hunter."

Wow, she thought. Sokka's a lot better at schemes than I am. She didn't say anything as Muul grabbed her arm and dragged her into the streets. She was about to yell when a metal hand clamped across her face, and a hiss sounded, locking her jaw shut. She was lifted by her face, an extremely painful proposition, and carried to the town's jail. Inside, she was hurled from the doorway straight into a wooden back room. She rolled to a stop, working her aching jaw, and she looked ahead just in time to see a sturdy wooden framework come sliding down and locking.

"What kind of prison is this?" Katara asked, giving the wooden hatching a shove. The guard walked away, chuckling. Behind her, she heard a voice.

"A wooden one," Toph said. Katara looked out the door, but the bounty hunter and the third-eyed freak had vanished from sight. She could still barely make out the man from Si Wong speaking, but she couldn't make out the words. "I mean, how could they possibly know to have this thing made up before we got here? Aren't metal prisons good enough?"

"They are, usually," Ty Lee's voice came from nearby. "Of course, they're not very big, and they don't like putting me with company. Think I might come up with a daring escape plan."

"Ty Lee? What are you doing in here?" Katara asked, pressing herself to the wood.

"What? I'm not Ty Lee," the answer came. It definitely sounded like her thought. How could that be possi... Right. Ty Lee had six identical sisters. "And how do you know her anyway?"

"I was about to tell you, it's not Sugarqueen," Toph said, curled up on the floor. Katara turned back to the gates.

"Which one are you?" she asked.

"Why should I tell you? Are you trying to get a confession out of me? I ain't sayin' nothing!" she shouted.

"We know your sister Ty Lee," Katara said. "She's with us. She probably would like to see you again."

"Well, she won't be seeing all of me," the sister said. "In about a day, they're gonna cut my hands off."

Katara was aghast. "What for?"

"Well, they don't really like it when somebody forges a few letters of mark and tries to cash them. Yeah, word spread about that pretty fast, and people don't like losing thousands in gold. So, punishment for a forger is fingers and years. Usually. I also _might have _said some unfortunate things to the magistrate regarding his wife."

"I like this one," Toph said, grinning.

"Don't blame me! They were all true!" the sister said. There was a clang at the metal. "Right. Sorry. Agni forbid I get some decent conversation around here..."

Toph shook her head, then popped back up, staring. "Katara, this is a trap!" she said urgently. Katara sighed.

"I wonder what gave you that idea. We're in a wooden cage put there by somebody who wants to kill you."

"Not for us, dummy," Toph said. "For Aang!"

Katara was shocked, then lowered her head into her hands. "I should have known this was going to happen! Why can't I seem to do anything right!" she said.

"Don't you give up on me," Toph said, standing up. "There's got to be some way out of this place. It's just a matter of being stubborn enough."

"I just wanted to take care of the problem," Katara said, miserably. "To keep everybody I care about safe."

"And you see, that's why it ain't half bad that you mother us," Toph said, shoving at the gate. "You've got all of the best parts of mothering, with very few of the annoying ones."

Katara couldn't look at her. "I'm sorry I said those things about your parents," she said.

"Look, my family life is complicated," Toph said. She stopped for a second, slouching. "And you were right. When I left them, I probably hurt them a lot. Mom didn't deserve that."

Toph was back up, her moment of weakness past. With Toph, it wasn't a matter of having a strong outer shell around a squishy interior. She was granite all the way down. Sometimes the granite had flaws, but she never let them slow her down long. It was a trait that Katara really respected in her. "So what are we going to do?" Katara asked.

Toph broke off with a hard kick against the wood. "Damn it! We need bendables! Just a pebble or some water or something. This place is built on sand! That's useless to me!"

"What about your necklace?" Katara asked.

"I left it behind so nobody would steal it!" Toph sounded very annoyed at herself.

Katara just stayed silent for a moment. "Wow, you people have problems," Ty Lee's yet unidentified sister chimed in.

* * *

"They shouldn't be taking this long," Sokka said. "I mean, how long could it be? Katara would have sent back word if something had come up."

"Do you think we should do something? Like, check on them?" Aang asked. Ty Lee nodded earnestly. "Fine. Come on, we should go."

Sokka set Hawky the messenger hawk – because Sokka wasn't the most creative with nicknames – onto a jar of food. "Alright, Hawky. Don't pick any fights with Momo. Appa's in charge."

The three teenagers turned to walk away. Ty Lee though, looked back. The lemur and the hawk began to posture aggressively at each other, until a loud bellow from Appa quieted both. She couldn't help but smile at that. Appa really was in charge. The three moved through the wilderness into the City that overlooked the bay. She'd never seen the city herself, but when she was growing up, there were always stories of the beautiful living flame, lancing up out of the sand, perpetually burning through its inexhaustible supply of natural gas. But now, it was gone, and there was _that_ ugly statue in the middle of town. She liked it better when it was an actual fire fountain, instead of an angry, screaming Ozai. She also remembered that there used to be a lot more people around.

"Aang, Sokka," Ty Lee said, holding her staff close. "Where are all the people?"

The only person moving that Ty Lee could see was a middle-aged woman pulling a hand cart full of radishes. Over the squeaking of the axle, Ty Lee felt something... just a slightest twitch of concern. She and Aang turned around at the exact same second, looking up onto a rooftop. The sunset glinted off of a metal fist. The Avatar and the acrobat didn't even have time to share one word. Aang leapt one way, and Ty Lee grabbed her boyfriend and leapt another, just as Combustion Man fired a death beam at where they had been standing. Sokka had his sword out in a heartbeat after he got his feet back under him. Another death beam smashed into the pedestal upon which Ozai's statue stood, and Aang bounded into the street where Ty Lee and Sokka had landed.

"How does this guy always know where we are?" Sokka shouted. There was a loud bang, and a shake that Ty Lee could feel in the ground. The clangor approached, and the group all turned and fled down the street. There was a hissing pop behind them, and Aang turned back to hurl a pellet of air at it. The blast sent all three of them flying, crashing into the radish cart and sending it rolling down the street.

"MY RADISHES!" The woman wailed in horror. As Ty Lee tried to shake the stars from her eyes, she wondered how she knew what Aang was doing to blow up the death beam. It didn't matter, though, because as soon as the smoke cleared, Combustion Man would be firing another.

"How do we beat this guy?" Sokka shouted. "He shoots fire out of his brain!"

"We need to split up," Ty Lee said.

"Whatever I did, I'm so sorry," Sokka said.

"No, she's right. He can only follow one of us! Go find Katara and Toph," he said, then he bounded away. Sokka and Ty Lee locked hands, then ran in the opposite direction. An instant later, the now defunct radish cart became _really_ defunct, as a death beam tore it to shreds.

* * *

Katara could feel the shuddering every time a death beam detonated outside. She sat, her knees tucked against her chest, as Toph still battered away at the wood. She'd split open one of her fists, and idly wiped a streak of blood along her forehead. "Toph," she said, her voice tiny. "If I used what she taught me, would that make me evil?"

"What?" Toph asked, incredulous.

"What Hama taught me. If I used it... would that make me as evil as her?"

"Are you going to go around tearing the water out of random Fire Nation civilians for twenty years?" Toph asked. Katara gave a shocked look, one that Toph couldn't actually see. She still seemed to sense it. "I didn't think so. It's not what you know that makes you evil or not, Sweetness, it's what you do with it. A lot of earthbending could kill an idiot, but that doesn't make it evil. So if you're going to do something, do it!"

Katara stood, nodding. She remembered what Hama had said. That there is water in the most unexpected places. Even the air was full of it. She reached out, but found that there wasn't much here. It must be because of that enormous ugly statue, keeping the air dry and hot. But that wasn't the only source. She took a page from Toph's book and spat on to the floor. She then flexed her fingers, and the water from her spit began to rise up.

"That's disgusting _and_ awesome!" Toph said, Katara pulled the sweat off of her body, even the... effluvia from the bucket in the corner, and formed it into a blade, slashing at the wood. It began to bite in, deeper with every swing. "You're a sweaty, stinky genius!"

Probably summoned by the noise of their escape attempt, the door burst open, and Muul came running back in. "Oh, no. Oh no you don't," he shouted, mania in his voice. He ran to one side, and returned with a spear, which he jabbed through the gate at Toph. Toph just reached out a hand and stopped it with her palm. The blade buckled like it was made out of noodles.

"Don't mind if I do," Toph said, with a grin. She pulled the spear toward her, bending it into a gauntlet which she spun over her head and smashed into the weakened gate. It splintered and caved. A second strike, and the whole thing gave way.

"That's impossible! No earthbender can manipulate metal!" Muul shouted. Toph stepped out of the cage, then laughed.

"I'm the greatest earthbender in the world," Toph said. "Greatest there ever was." Muul's expression never faltered from that obsession, though. He punched forward, and the floor groaned under their feet. Nothing came of it, so Toph quickly turned and laced her fingers through the metal of Ty Lee's sister's cage. A solid yank, and a huge gaping hole was rent into it. "Lady, if you want to keep your hands, you might want to make a run for it."

"What about you?" Katara asked.

"I've got an old score to settle," Toph said grimly. Katara nodded, then helped out the girl who looked almost exactly like Ty Lee back to her feet and began running out the door.

* * *

Toph smiled as she stood, facing Muul. "It was always coming to this," he said.

"Please. The only reason you and I are facing each other right now is because I needed money and I was around people with whom I could afford to get stupid," Toph pointed out. She smirked. "So, what are you going to do about me? Can you bend metal too?"

Muul let out a vicious snarl, and stomped forward again. This time, it was not stone which answered his command, but a horrible flurry of stinging sand which blasted up from the floor and tore at her legs and feet. She bounded into the street, and punched a huge block of stone through the wall at him. He smashed it in half, landing on the pavers. She didn't need eyes to see that he was at least half insane. He thrust upward, and sand exploded up between every crack of the road, fouling Toph's vision. She swung her hands outward, and the sand only barely obeyed her. It was an element that she hadn't practiced with, because it seemed so damned useless. She regretted thinking that now.

"_I am going to kill you!_" Muul shouted, lost in his native tongue of Ackbiihu. His hat was gone, his clothes were being shredded to ribbons by his uncontrolled bending. And she only had her metal fists and a few paving stones to go against him.

"_Better_ have tried," Toph shouted, egging him on. He surged, and all the sand began to sweep down at her. She called up all the pavers she could, forming a wall just as it struck her, smashing her down the street. She hit the ground rolling, then bounded to her feet quickly. She turned her head this way and that. With the sand underneath the streets being disturbed so much, it was hard to see anything. The only warning she got was a whistling of the wind, before that huge hammer of sand was upon her again. She ducked into it, twisting her feet into the ground. How had she done that last time, when the Library was sinking?

She thrust out a hand, grabbing at the sand that was driving her back, and gave it a twist, willing it into a natural glass. The sand fell away, but more came up, surging around her. Muul was out there somewhere, but she couldn't see where. He had vanished into the sandstorm he had created. She glanced around as she did, trying to find the next attack. Then, she felt a metal man behind her. She turned, as the death beam began to pop through the air, and brought up a thick wall of everything she could gather, blocking the detonation. It still tossed her aside, smashing her face into a building. If she could see, she'd have say that stars danced in her eyes, but as it was, she just fought to stay conscious. After shaking her head a bit, she felt that metal footfall come closer toward her. Then, Gahj Muul just seemed to appear out of nowhere, between her and Combustion Man.

"What do you think you're doing, you idiot!" Muul screamed. "She is my kill! MINE!"

Muul moved into an attacking stance, but he wasn't facing Toph. He was going to fight the firebender? Combustion Man stared at Muul for a moment, then breathed in. Suddenly, Toph was extremely grateful that she was blind. One moment, Muul was standing between Combustion Man and Toph and the next... Gahj Muul just didn't exist any more. She felt herself being covered in something warm and wet. She rose unsteadily to her feet, trying to get into her stance. She heard Combustion Man breathe in...

* * *

Ty Lee was shocked. She looked at the girl in front of her, and it was like looking into a mirror. The only difference between them was that her 'reflection' had a different hair style and a small scar on her upper lip. Her eyes went wide, and a giddy grin came to her face despite the desperate situation. "AAN JEE!" She shouted, and swept her sister into a tight hug. The other pair of siblings looked not just impatient, but a touch desperate. "What are you doing here?" Ty Lee asked.

"Imprisoned," Aan Jee answered, dismissive. "Didn't feel like losing my hands, so I decided to take a woman who can bend metal up on her offer."

"That's all very nice, but could we please RUN FOR OUR LIVES?" Sokka interjected. Just like that, Ty Lee was running again. Aan Jee kept up with Sokka, but Ty Lee took to the rooftops, watching as Aang nimbly dodged the death rays that Combustion Man was laying waste to the area around him with. Suddenly, a great plume of sand began to erupt from another street, before bucking back and around. Ty Lee gasped. There was a sandbender here?

"What do you see?" Katara asked. Aang dove through a building, landing next to Katara, and Combustion Man was moving toward them all, but he stopped, turning to one side. Toph had just skidded to a stop, and defended herself from an errant deathbeam. The Si Wong bounty hunter landed himself from the vortex of sand that he was bending and shouted at Combustion Man and... Combustion Man blew him up. If Ty Lee weren't already running on adrenaline, the horror of it would have made her throw up. But she had to be strong, for everybody.

"Toph needs help!" Ty Lee shouted. She leapt down, but Katara was faster. She couldn't see very well through the dust, but Combustion Man took in another breath, this one interrupted when Katara hurled forward water and froze it around his head. He grunted and lurched, and Toph began to hobblingly run toward them. She was covered in stuff that Ty Lee didn't want to think about. Katara, who hadn't seen what happened, let out a cry of alarm.

"Tui La, Toph! What happened to you?"

"I need a bath, badly," Toph said, her voice unsteady. Combustion Man gave one last heave, then practically punched himself in the face with a metal fist. The act shattered the prison Katara had made. He turned, and took in another breath. Toph reacted first, even in her battered, bloody state, and heaved up many of the pavers around her, compressing them into a small block, and hurling it at Combustion Man's face, just as he was leaning forward to release his death beam. He let out a grunt of pain, and then there was loud popping... surrounding him. A blastwave propelled everybody away except for Aang and Ty Lee. Combustion Man groggily started getting to his feet from where the blast had thrown him into a building.

"We need to run!" Aang said, quite unnecessarily. Everybody fled, not slowing, let alone stopping, until they reached Appa. Ty Lee's sister gaped at the thing, but Katara spared just enough time to blast most of the former bounty hunter off of Toph with her cooking water before getting everybody into the saddle. Appa let out a low groan, and then lifted off. Combustion Man was nowhere in sight.

There was a long moment of silence. "Are we really flying?" Aan Jee asked.

"Yup. Isn't it great?" Ty Lee answered, trying to sound happy. She was just shaken though. And so were everybody else.

"Where do we go from here?" Katara asked.

"I've got a location in mind," Aang said from the reins. "Some place where nobody lives, where we won't need to worry about anything like... that."

A silence fell on the gang. Sokka quietly reached into his pack and pulled out the maps, the plans, everything he had, and slipped them into a message case on Hawky's back. "Hakoda," Sokka said, showing the hawk a snippet from an 'enemies of the state' poster. The hawk gave a keen, then flew away. Sokka sighed. "I was really hoping Hawky and I could have spent more time together."

"Wow, sis, these people you're with are really weird," Aan Jee said. She gave a glance at Sokka. "Say... is the pretty one seeing anybody?"

Ty Lee rolled her eyes so hard they almost fell out of her head.

* * *

_Leave a review. They are candy to me._

**Edit: I knew I forgot an important sentence in there, somewhere.**


	8. The Avatar and the Dark Prince

**Two things first: I put in a missing sentence that explained why Combustion Man detonated Muul. It was in one version of this but not the other. Oops. And second, for reasons not gotten into at this juncture, the geology of the world of Avatar makes it impossible for diamonds to form in all but two places. They're so rare, that there isn't even a word for them in Huojian nor Tianxia. **

**I wanted to do this one for the longest time. While 'Blood Moon' made me want to start this entire AU, this one was why I wanted to continue it. A whole lot of foreshadowing, all the way back into book two (if you look hard enough, you'll find it in clever pronoun usage) pays off, right here. People might wonder why I put the Invasion of Chin in book one? Because it established a concept in the story which returns right now.**

**Strangely, there was other foreshadowing, which I hadn't intentionally put into place, which also payed off in this same chapter, but not because I intended to. While I was writing this, I had the part for Sokka (itself foreshadowing) lined up, but when I reached the end of that, I had a notion, one that sparked and I simply had to follow wherever it led me. And I like where it led me. It explained a few things which I was wondering how I was going to do. **

**And just to confuse people a bit... Remember during the second part of Siege of the North, when Aang is talking to Koh? Remember the fourth face it showed, as it was yelling at Aang about Avatar Kuruk trying to kill him? That middle-aged man was an earthbender named Yu. Remember that.**

* * *

Zuko's eye flit open when he heard something in the night. His hearing had always been his keenest sense, one he cultivated especially after he lost half of it. His withered left ear was good for little, but at least he wasn't deaf in that side. He quickly threw away his covers and bounded to his feet. He was shirtless, but still wore his pants. It was a habit he'd picked up during his many years in exile, and reinforced hard during his time as a fugitive in the Earth Kingdoms. Never be without pants. That way lies tragedy.

Zuko moved to the door, then quickly slammed it open. The hall outside his room was empty, but a scroll was standing next to the door. Atop it, was a hair ornament. He picked it up and inspected it; a double flame, which would rest upon a phoenix tail. It was gold, he could tell, but it didn't seem to have been cleaned in years. The scroll he snatched up and poured over quickly, ducking back into his room, a blue flame appearing in his hand. He stared at that fire, instead of the scroll for a brief time. After a minute, the fire seemed to recede, becoming red.

_Consider the demise of your great-grandfather_.

Zuko turned the scroll over. Nothing more. He knew how Sozin died. He died a very old man, attended by his last surviving child, Azulon. And he died of nothing but old age. Zuko sighed, and he set the scroll aside. Then, with a surge of frustration, turned and blasted it with fire. As it burned, he quickly saw that there was another message, hidden within, but he couldn't read it before it was engulfed.

"DAMN IT ALL!" Zuko roared, scattering the ashes. He felt a sting in his finger. He'd pricked it on the headpiece in his rage. He sucked on it, then leaned down and picked up the fallen antiquity. It was very familiar. He moved and sat down on his bed, fuming over his own stupidity. The hidden message was probably the important one. Instead, he just had to sit here like a petulant brat and wait for things to move on without him. He stared at the piece. It was royal, he could tell that just by its workmanship. But why was it so filthy? Nobody in this house would allow something like this to go so long uncleaned. He reached to one side, grabbing a bit of linen, and began to buff, simultaneously stoppering his bleeding finger and wiping away the smut. When the gold began to burnish again, he stared at it. What was the meaning of it? He ran his cut finger along the double flame. He felt a strange drowsiness come over him.

"What's happening?" he asked, but he couldn't get the words out. He flopped backward onto his covers, the headpiece still in his hand. The world spun, and fell into blackness. Poison! Somebody had assassinated him! He tried to fight the demise, but he could as well waterbend. So he waited for all those things said to come after death. Reunion with those not yet reincarnated. A time in paradise before the rebirth. Instead, there was just nothingness. He quickly decided that death was a very boring state.

"Welcome," a voice said behind him. Zuko realized that he wasn't lying down anymore. "I needed you to be here, at the proper place, with the proper conditions, on the morn of the summer solstice."

"Who are you?" Zuko asked.

"There is much you need to see," the voice took a form, smoke seeming to coalesce out of the blackness, into a tall, regal man with a flowing white beard, and strong, clear, golden eyes. "And we have very little time, Dark Prince. There is so much that you must know."

"Who are you?" Zuko asked again.

"I am Avatar Roku," he said. "I am your _very_ last chance."

* * *

Sokka got up, carefully pulling away from Ty Lee. There was only one time that she slept like a normal person, and that was after they spent some time together in the night. She smiled even in her sleep. It was so good to have somebody like her. Nowadays, he found it hard to imagine what he would have done without her constant cheer and endless high spirits. He got up, dressing himself and wandering out into the morning. He squinted at the eastern horizon. Wow. That was unusual. Sokka of the South Water Tribe, awake _before_ the sun came up. It must be the summer solstice or something. When he pondered, he remembered that it actually was.

He wandered around the camp, although desolate hellscape might have been just as applicable. Green grass shot up high near a river, but otherwise, the entire island was just a black, blasted mound, punctuated by two volcanoes which gave no indication of exploding. Sokka still didn't trust them. Frickin' enemy volcanoes! Below, he could see Appa, sleeping half submerged in the river. It wouldn't have to move far to eat, and would stay cool. Aang and Katara were bedded down nearby in the grass. Toph had her usual stone tent, and Ty Lee's sister slept on open ground, snoring loudly. They might look identical, but they sure didn't sleep the same.

It was a good morning. He felt quite at peace with the world, which was an unusual state. He thought back to what that fortune teller had said about him. '_Your path will be long and fraught with difficulties, most of them self-inflicted_'. Yeah, that's the thanks he gets for warning them about a volcano about to destroy their town. Once again, Sokka glanced back up at the volcanoes above. Even though he'd flown around them himself, just to be sure, he didn't trust them. Frickin' enemy volcanoes.

Sokka felt something buffet against him, like a sharp gust of wind. He blinked, turning around. His eyes went up, and he saw a great, blue dragon staring down at him. Sokka fell backward onto the ash, too shocked to even scream. Wait, the dragon wasn't staring at him, it was looking into the grass. At Aang. "DRAGON!" Sokka finally shouted, hurling the boomerang at his belt at its large body, for all the good it would do. The weapon passed right through it, which made Sokka a bit confused. He turned as the dragon hovered closer to Aang, and then a bluish airbender hopped up onto its back and flew away. Sokka caught the returning boomerang without looking at it.

"What happened? Is Sparky Sparky Boom Man back?" Aan Jee said, bleary eyed and clutching a kukri which she'd secreted the gods only know where. Katara also bolted upright.

"What happened?" she asked, quickly pulling up a band of water, looking around. Sokka just watched as the dragon with Aang on it flew away into the distance to the West. He pointed.

"Did anybody else see that?" he asked.

"See what?" Aan Jee asked. "I'm beginning to get why you people survived this long. You're all paranoid," She paused. "And a bit insane. I'm going back to sleep."

The acrobat's sister laid out flat on the ground again, even though the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon. Katara shook her head and leaned down. "Come on, Aang. You're going to need to get up," Sokka bounded over to him. Aang was still sleeping here. But he'd seen the boy... An Aang with a shaved head on a dragon nobody else could see. Crud.

"Well, so much for a life of rationality and science," Sokka whined. He pointed at the young Avatar. "I think Aang's gone on another spirit journey."

"What do you mean?"

"I just saw him leave," he said sarcastically. Katara stared at him, as though trying to get the joke. He was spared having to explain himself when Toph's earth tent exploded away. Aan Jee bolted up again, her blade reappearing, before seeing what everybody was up to, and walking away cursing quite profanely, looking for a quieter place to sleep.

"Guys," Toph had a haunted look on her face. "I've been here before."

* * *

Zuko looked out at the luscious grasses of a garden. He glanced to one side, and beheld the sweeping vistas of a palace, one he had never seen. One which no longer existed. "Where are we?"

"This is the Fire Nation Capital, the Royal Palace at Càn," the Avatar said. "Once the seat of the Fire Nation, in the heart of the Azul provinces. Now, a memory, long since abandoned as a capital. You grew up on a different time than I. You both did."

"Both?" Zuko asked. He looked to the Avatar's other side, and a teenaged, bald-headed monk was standing next to him. Zuko immediately dropped into a firebending Kata, but nothing came out of his fists. Roku turned to him.

"He cannot hear what I say to you, nor see you in any way. You are only aware of _him_ because of the... unusual method by which I contacted you," Roku said. "And in this place, your bending will not avail you."

"Why am I here?" Zuko demanded. He couldn't hear what Aang said. Roku gestured out to the gardens. Zuko stepped forward. There were two young men, somewhat younger than Zuko, training on the grass. Two firebenders. One was blocky and shorter, the other slender and tall, and both were quite good. One, though, made a crucial misstep, and the blocky one was able to push him over, making him trip on a tree root.

"I win again, Roku," the blocky one said.

"The root did all the work, Sozin," the slender one replied, a smile on his face. 'Sozin' helped this youth to his feet.. Zuko turned back to the aged Avatar.

"Yes," Roku said. "This is I, at a younger time. A simpler time. This was in a time when he was simply 'Prince Sozin', and he was my oldest friend."

Zuko watched as the two youths laughed and jested. He didn't understand. Sozin made a point of spending the last decades of his life hunting down the Avatar! He watched as the young Roku peered through a gate, then recoiled, blushing brightly. Zuko could see an attractive looking Azuli girl walk by.

"Say something, Roku!" Sozin cajoled. Young Roku moved out, trying to talk to her, but he froze up, and wilted. She never even glanced back at him. Sozin shook his head, chuckling as he patted his somehow friend on the back.

"Love is hard when you're young," Roku, the aged Roku, said. Zuko snorted.

"You don't need to tell me," he said. From the look of the monk, it looked like he said the exact same thing. Roku waved, and the scene changed to a party.

"It gets better," he said. "Sozin and I shared many things. Amongst them was a birthday. I was sixteen years old, still shy," Zuko watched as the young Roku almost tripped over his own feet and blundered down a flight of stairs in front of everybody nearby. Only Sozin's quick hand saved him, "and awkward. I had no idea what events were already in motion, the life that was coming."

Zuko watched as the Fire Sages parted through the crowd. Sozin's eyes went wide. "What happened? Is my father alright?" he shouted. The Fire Sages gave a glance at him, but then turned to Roku.

"We are not here for you, young prince," the lead Sage said. "We are here to announce the identity of the next Avatar. We live to serve you, _Avatar Roku_."

And there was a ripple throughout the crowd. People began to bow down to Roku, until even the Prince was on his knees before him. Zuko turned to the aged Avatar.

"What is the meaning of this?" he asked.

"You must have patience," Roku said. "All things come in their time, and not before."

The scene changed again, and this time, it was young Roku, sitting alone in a room, in pedestrian red robes, looking quite forlorn. Sozin leaned in. "Come on, Roku. Show me how its done using all four kinds of bending!" he said, moving through moronic impersonations of various bending Katas. For just an instant, Zuko wondered if this could possibly be the shrewd, calculating Sozin that people talked about. He just seemed like a goof. Young Roku looked away. "I'd have thought you'd pack more. Where are all your things?"

"They said I don't need any worldly possessions anymore," Roku said, staring at an empty chest which was supposed to contain his life. Zuko looked around the room. The house seemed to be little better than a peasant's hovel. How had Sozin and Roku _even met_? They seemed so different. Sozin looked down, and settled next to Roku on the bed. He pulled something off of his head. Zuko leaned close, and his eyes grew wide. It was the headpiece! The one that had been delivered to him!

"There is a magic in certain objects, something older than bending itself," Roku said. "Sometimes, if a connection is made, it can echo across time itself."

"I want you to have this," Sozin said.

"But it's a Royal Artifact," Roku seemed hesitant. And considering the piece was probably worth more than everything in Roku's life put together, Zuko could understand why.

"Keep it. I'm sure they wouldn't mind you having one thing to remind you of home," Sozin said.

Young Roku just smiled. "This all happened so fast."

"Don't forget who you are," Sozin said as Roku slid the hairpiece on. "You're Fire Nation. We burn brightest. Now show the rest of the world what a true son of the Fire Nation can do!"

The scene faded away. "That would be the last time I saw my friend for twelve years," Roku said. "First, I had to pass from summer into autumn; I traveled to the Southern Air Temple."

* * *

Toph walked across the volcanic soil in strange patterns, her sightless eyes flitting to and fro. "There was a whole village here, once," she said. "Roku lived here for decades. He raised his family here, his children."

"Yeah, what?" Aan Jee asked. Ty Lee elbowed her lightly in the ribs, bringing her to silence. She'd slept right through Sokka's little outburst, but Toph's was a bit more persuasive. Toph punched down, then swept her arms out. The ash flew up and away, billowing away from them. Ty Lee was very glad she chose to stand behind the earthbender. Just about anywhere else would have risked burial. Toph walked down a stairway that she had created, and quite a few paces down, lost until just now from the sunlight under tonnes of ash, was a town.

"I've been here before," Toph said, waving a hand to the village.

"That's impossible," Sokka said. "This town must have been buried in ash for a century."

"Just about," Ty Lee confirmed.

"I walked this road," Toph said, her eyes moving around, as though tracking things that weren't there to be seen. Sokka stared at her, a worried look in his eye. Ty Lee just moved close to her boyfriend. He accepted her comfort, but still looked quite uncomfortable. "I came here once, ten years after he left me behind, finished with everything I had to teach him."

"What?" Aan Jee asked again, sounding a bit more annoyed this time.

"It's an Avatar thing," Sokka said, as much of an explanation as he could give.

"He welcomed me with open arms," Toph stared ahead. "There. That's where we were. The sun was bright that day. Right in the middle of winter. I raced him up the volcano, just like old times," she reached down, touching the soil. Tears suddenly appeared in her eyes. "Oh, he thought he was _so_ great. But I was the best. I was chosen to teach the Avatar at the age of eighteen. There hadn't _been_ a younger earthbending master, not ever!"

"Toph, you're _fifteen_," Sokka said.

"I wasn't Toph," the blind girl said. She rose back up, taking a deep breath. "I was Sud."

* * *

Zuko felt very uncomfortable riding on the dragon. There was a lot of family history about dragons, and he was surprised that this one didn't pick up on it. But then again, this dragon was probably like its master: long dead. Roku landed the dragon at the Southern Air Temple. "We came here first, to a place I don't doubt you'll recognize," Roku said, waving a hand to the surroundings. Zuko got off the dragon and looked around. The first places that Zuko had gone after he'd been exiled were the Air Temples. He'd seen them all, or at least, what remained of them. But this... this was completely different from what he remembered. Dozens of those flying bison wafted effortlessly through the sky, and at least a hundred tiny orange forms on gliders flit amongst them. Zuko was looking at the Southern Air Temple while it was still alive.

A pang of shame dug at him. Roku gestured to one pavilion, where a bunch of young boys, and one teenager, were all dressed in orange kavi and holding gliders. Young Roku was quite out of place. "I trained first in airbending, as I must," Roku said. "And here, I met a great friend, one I'm sure you'll recognize, Aang. Monk Gyatso."

It didn't ring any bells with Zuko. He wandered away as the silent, spectral figure of Aang began to fire questions at Roku. Zuko didn't care about this place. The only thing he saw when he looked at it was the people that his great grandfather had killed. Needlessly wiped out. Needlessly? When did he start thinking like that? "What trickery is this? Are you putting ideas into my mind?"

"I put nothing there that you did not already think, if only deep inside yourself," Roku's voice came back from the balcony. Zuko fumed. Roku had to be lying. This place was nothing that interested him. He walked back to the Avatar, being close if only so he could be away faster. He looked up and watched as Young Roku, and the monk identified as Gyatso crash landed to the stone, then started laughing amongst themselves. Roku smiled at whatever Aang said. He looked at Zuko. "There is a lesson in this. Some friendships are so strong, that not even death can sever them. They transcend lifetimes. Gyatso was almost a brother in my life, and he was almost a father in yours. He circles you still, Aang, in his way."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Zuko asked.

"That we can derive strength from sources we would never expect," Roku said, calling his dragon. "That not all we know is as we think it is. Even those who think they are alone always have those they care about, if not even in spirit, then in memory. And that gives strength."

"All my memories do is make me angry. All the failures I've had. All the mistakes."

"You chose only to see the worst in yourself," Roku said. "Come. There is more to see." Another uncomfortable dragon ride, and he was back at the Capital of the North. "After I mastered airbending, a task of two years, I traveled north, to Master Saami."

This time, the dragon did not land, simply hovering over the water as Zuko looked down. He saw a Northern Waterbender, his hair pulled back and beaded. And opposite him was... Zuko gaped, and levered himself off the dragon, knowing that the fall couldn't possibly hurt him. He landed, and ran up to the past Avatar. Zuko's eyes were wide.

Roku looked just like Zuko. It hadn't been obvious before, but now, this Young Roku had grown a beard much like Zuko's own. It ran down along the line of the jaw, black and full. Zuko touched his face. The only major difference between the two men was that Zuko had that burn on the left eye and face, that withered ear, that interruption in the sweep of his beard. Roku brought the dragon low, as the two men began to waterbend at each other.

"Waterbending was the hardest thing I ever had to learn," Roku said. "It took longer than anything I had ever learned before. It was so opposed to everything I knew," Roku turned to Zuko. "To change one's habits, one's fighting style so drastically, it almost drove me mad."

"I changed because I had to," Zuko said. "Nothing else would work."

"As did I," Roku said. As Zuko got back onto the dragon, he watched as the waterbending master, Saami, knocked young Roku down, but Roku popped back up with a tsunami that washed Saami from where they were training all the way down the central canal of the city and dumped him on the highest floor of the palace. Young Roku looked very pleased with himself. "In time, I mastered water as well. It became a part of me, just as fire was. Like you, Aang, with air and earth."

The dragon moved again, once more south, to a town that Zuko had only heard about. It had been burned to the ground ten years before Zuko was even born. "Next, I went south, to Gaoling."

Zuko left the dragon again, this time joined by the Avatar and the monk. It was strange how quickly Zuko became able to ignore the boy. Roku indicated two men who were moving toward them rapidly, riding cresting waves of stone. "My earthbending master, Sud. He was stubborn. Uncompromising. Blunt. We argued over every topic. Our arguments even came to blows, and yet every morning, no matter how we had torn each other apart that previous night, we were training again with the sunrise. He would not accept anything but the best from himself, and from me."

Sud, a muscular man with a blocky face and a full beard, came to a stop at the top, as the now much burlier Roku was pouring himself tea at the top. Sud shook his head, smiling. "Like Sozin, Sud was a friend that I would not relinquish for any price in the world. He was a lifelong friend. And more. His training was brutal to the point of cruelty. It was bitter work, but... the results were _worth it_."

Roku, this young Roku, stood at the top of the mountain, and began to bend. Water burst up from the stone, flaring down the mountain in a new river. He turned, flaring a fist, and a wave of stone collapsed down the hill. Another turn, and a great blast of flame erupted, reaching across the sky. A final turn, and a great blast of wind issued forth from his hand. All four elements together. A realized Avatar. Zuko scowled.

"Nice work there, Twinkletoes," Sud said, amused. "But I'm _still _the better earthbender."

"This is pointless. I don't know what you wanted from me," he said.

"There is so much more to this story, Dark Prince," Roku said. The scene dissolved into darkness. The last thing to vanish, as though stubbornly refusing to leave, was the image of Sud. And as it faded, for just an instant, Zuko could have sworn the green eyes turned milky.

* * *

Toph moved like a woman possessed. Which, in a lot of ways, she was. She earthbent the entire town up out of the ash and long cooled magma, then struck out, up the volcano. "It was a terrible night," Toph said, her eyes damp. Even if she weren't blind, Ty Lee knew she would have been at this moment sightless. "I was half a world away and I could feel it, rumbling through the earth. I left my home, my wife and my children, my grandchildren, to come here, as fast as any boat would take me. I knew in my heart there was no way I could make it on time. But I thought... if I just moved a bit faster... If I tried a little bit harder... that somehow it would make a difference. That somehow, despite a world of distance, I'd _be there in time_."

There was an odd dip in the land ahead of them all. Toph bent again, and this time, when the ash and magma moved away, there was a dull gleam of bone. Massive bone. "But there was no way. It was just too far. I did everything I could, Roku. I swear I did," Toph spread her arms wide, and this time, a great ring of ash flew up and away. It revealed a skeleton, long and coiled in the blackness. She sank to her knees, laying her hands on the bones. "But when I got there, you were long gone. But yours wasn't to be buried by ash, mummified in the grit. No, that's a sandbender's way of dying. You deserved better. You deserved better than to be a distant memory, without even a proper burial."

Toph climbed over the bones, and the others stood outside, looking down at her. She stood in the heart of the coil. It was a dead dragon. "Fang. You were so loyal to him," Toph said, sitting in the center. "A dragon for a dragon hearted man. Loyal right up until the end. You idiot. You stupid animal! You should have left! Then there'd be something left of him!"

Toph kicked the earth, and a pillar lifted up the skull, dull brown, stained by the ashes. She walked over and looked at it, as though staring into its eyes. "But that isn't your way, is it? Just like it wasn't mine," she turned away, touching the ground. "I found him right here. He died gasping, I know it. But he was Fire Nation, and my dearest friend. So I brought him back to Ta Min on Ember Island. We burned your body, as you would have wanted. We let your ashes become one with the volcano."

"Toph," Sokka said. He took a step toward her as she vaulted the bones again. When he touched her shoulder, she shrugged it off, a fierceness coming to her face.

"And then," Toph snarled, "I waited."

* * *

The scene faded into existence, and Zuko recognized the gardens of the lost Royal Palace on the other side of the continent. "When I returned to my home, I was a different man. Twelve years of philosophy and cultures so different than my own taught me things that I could never relinquish; they had been branded onto my very soul. I was no longer simply Fire Nation. I was the Avatar."

"I still fail to see the point of this," Zuko muttered.

"Patience, Dark Prince," Roku said. "I was not the only one who had changed. Sozin had gone from Prince, to Fire Lord. He was young, ambitious. But he was still my oldest friend."

Zuko realized what he was looking at. These people were here for a wedding. Zuko leaned forward. "It's that Azuli woman, the one who didn't even know you were alive."

"Yes," Roku had a nostalgic tone in his voice. "Ta Min. When love is real, it finds a way; all I had to do was be persistent. Of course, being the Avatar never hurts one's chances with the ladies," Zuko could see Aang laughing on the other side of Roku. Roku turned to Zuko. "I'm sure you've found much the same being a Prince?"

"More like mockery and ridicule," Zuko said, thinking back to the beach. The way those girls pointed and laughed at him.

"You read hostility where none exists," Roku said. "Look at it again?"

Zuko frowned, but suddenly, he was standing on the beach of Ember Island again. He'd just taken off his shirt. For some reason, a flight of doves flew away into the distance, and the girls were... blushing, and tittering to themselves. It wasn't ridicule. It was attraction.

"How did you do that?" Zuko asked.

"I did nothing. You did it," Roku said. "This place simply... helped."

Sozin leaned in toward Ta Min. "Pardon me," he said, "do you think I might be able to borrow your husband?"

"It's not very traditional, but I don't see why not," the Azuli woman answered. For some reason, she sounded a lot like Azula, only a lot less malicious. Younger Roku followed the Fire Lord away, and Zuko was right behind them.

"What's on your mind which is so important it can't wait until tomorrow?" Roku said, still holding a drink.

"I have been thinking hard on the state of the world," Sozin said quite seriously. This sounded more like the Sozin the family spoke of. Roku smirked.

"Come on! It's my wedding! Dance with some ladies, have a cookie!" Roku chided.

"I realize this, but please, hear me out," Sozin stood, looking down over the ports, which even as today, put out great metal ships by the day. "Our nation was once the mightiest in the world, but natural disaster almost destroyed us. For hundreds of years, we have been a source of pity from the rest of the world, the one peoples who's element cannot save their own lives. But my great grandmother changed that," he swept his hand over the scene. "Technological advancement. Fire is alteration, it is power. When the world tries to destroy us, we change the world so that _we_ may thrive in it. That is the way of Fire. And look at what the last centuries have brought us! Peace, prosperity, and wealth beyond any prediction."

Roku's expression became concerned. "Where are you going with this?" he asked.

"I think it is time that we share this prosperity with the rest of the world!" Sozin said earnestly. "I have inherited the most powerful nation in the world; it's time that I expanded it!"

"No," Roku said sternly. "The world exists in balance because the nations have their own cultures, defined not by land but by peoples. What you're seeking is cultural colonization. It would disrupt everything," Sozin tried to interrupt, but Roku ran him down. "I will hear nothing more of this!"

The scene faded. "That was my first test as Avatar," Roku said, running spectral fingers down a spectral beard. "One that I did not fully pass. I thought the matter was settled, but many years later, I would come to find Sozin had laid claim to a number of cities on the East Continent. And I was enraged."

The scene swelled into being. It was a throneroom, quite unlike the one in Sozin City. This one had no trough of flames, but was clad in gold, its marble floors shining. Paintings and murals covered every wall. Roku, now middle aged, slammed through the doors, confronting Sozin. "I have seen the colonies!" Roku shouted. "How dare you occupy Earth Kingdom territory? Seed it with your own peoples and ideas!"

Sozin rose to his feet. "How dare you? You are a citizen of the Fire Nation, and you will not address your Fire Lord this way!" He took a step away from his throne. "Your loyalty is first to the Fire Nation. Anything less makes you a traitor."

"I stopped being Fire Nation the moment I became the Avatar, Sozin," Roku said. "Do not challenge me in this, Sozin. It will end badly for you. This invasion is over."

Sozin fumed, then leapt off the dais, extending his hands into a sweeping gesture, bathing the entire room in flames. Flames passed through Zuko. It was an odd sensation. When the flames died, Roku was nowhere to be seen. But Zuko saw a dimple in the floor, where Roku had been standing. If Zuko were fighting, he'd have turned around by now, but Sozin hadn't had any experience fighting either earthbenders nor an Avatar, so when Roku surged up out of the marble behind the Fire Lord, Sozin was caught by surprise. A blast of air heaved Sozin the length of the room, then, pillars of stone erupted from the floor, holding his arms down, his back arched backward. A flare of white light came to Roku's eyes, and he smashed his hands outward. The entire throneroom exploded into bits.

So that must be why Sozin moved the palace? Roku stood in front of Sozin. "I will not kill you, Sozin. Because that would be befouling the spirit of our past friendship. But I will be watching you. If you fall back into your wicked ways; if you make one step back, one step out of line; if you show any indication of returning to this madness, then you will not need to worry about the greatness of your nation, because I will make sure you are not around to experience it."

The ghost of the Avatar hung his head as his somewhat younger self walked away, through the rubble of what used to be a beautiful palace. "I lost a friend that day. It took me twenty five years to realize it. I returned to my home, an island on what was, at that point, the border between Ember and the now defunct Duan Ting prefectures. I raised my family, and I lived my life."

* * *

Toph stormed up out of the ashy hole and began to run to the place where Katara had propped Aang. When he came into 'view', Toph stopped, staring at him as though she could see. Everybody else came to a lurching halt behind her. "I knew that he would be coming back," Toph said. "He was the Avatar, and my best friend, and I would wait for him. I was old, but I was still strong. I could be strong for him again. I promised to the heavens themselves that I would train the next Avatar as I had trained Roku." Toph took a step toward him. "But then, you disappeared!" she shouted.

"Toph, what are you talking about?" Katara asked.

"You might want to stay out of this one," Sokka warned. He must have looked very earnest, because she actually listened to him.

"I waited for you, Roku!" Toph shouted at Aang's torpid face. "I waited until my dying day, and you never came back! And when I was reborn in the Heel of Ru Nan, I still waited, even though I had no idea what I was waiting for! Damn you! Where were you? You had been reborn, but nobody knew where you were! Do you have any idea how much it hurt me, every day, knowing that I had to find somebody and not having any idea who it was? It almost drove me insane!" Toph turned away, taking a deep breath. "Or maybe it did. Because I don't think anybody sane would have done what I did next."

Katara moved to stand with the others. "What is she talking about?"

"She remembers being somebody named Sud," Ty Lee chimed in quietly. She looked very uncomfortable about this whole situation. "Other than that, I don't know."

"I went into the Spirit World," she said. "It took everything I had in my life to get somebody to send me there, not in spirit, but in body."

Katara gasped. "That's dangerous. Insanely dangerous," she said.

"I would have done it a hundred times if I needed to," Toph said. "I walked the spirit world, railing at the heavens, trying to find out what I was looking for. It didn't matter who I asked, they wouldn't tell me. But they all knew of one who could," Toph took a step toward Aang. "Koh. The Face Stealer."

Now _that_ was a name to run away from really fast. Toph squared herself in front of Aang. "I did everything I could to get the information out of Koh. And he gave it to me, but at a price. He wanted my _face_," Toph's expression became one of rage. "So imagine my _amusement_ when I learn that you've been chilling for a century in a block of ice under the South Pole! Everything I fought so hard to get was for nothing! Do you have any idea what happens when you die in the spirit world? Not just in spirit, but in body?"

"There's a reason people don't go bodily into the Spirit World," Katara said. "It's too dangerous."

"Damned right it is," Toph said. "I was thrown into the pit of oblivion, left there for all time. But I wasn't done. I wasn't ready to give up. So I clawed my way back out," Katara looked shocked at that. "I lied. I cheated. I stole. I did everything I had to so I could get another chance. Any other chance. _One last chance_. I was born a blind girl in Shr-Wa. She was supposed to be helpless, defenseless, weak. But I wasn't about to give up," Toph turned to Katara. "So there's your answer. You wanted to know why I couldn't stop stealing, lying, cheating? Because I _needed_ to. Just like I needed to keep running away from home," She glanced down. "That's why I resented my mother. Not because she tried to keep me a secret, but because she wouldn't let me do what I needed to, even if I didn't understand why."

* * *

"Then, came the eruption," Roku said, looking out over an island. Zuko was hovering above, and yet could see everything. "Almost every island in the Fire Nation was born of a volcano at some point. And occasionally, those behemoths reawaken."

The cone at the heart of the island exploded, blasting bits of magma and pumice into the air. The Roku below, now no younger than the Avatar floating beside Zuko, ran to his wife, telling her she had to run, to make sure the family escaped. Then, Roku turned, and began to battle the volcano. Aang looked as spellbound as the Prince as they watched. Roku earthbent a great trench, which diverted the magma away from the village. The channel quickly overflowed. Roku pulled up the water from the ocean, a great tide sweeping around the village an the people clambering into their boats, forming a wall out of what magma overran the pit.

Roku stood before the magma, and as it fell toward him, he cast out an icy wind of airbending. Zuko couldn't help but gape in awe. "You're fighting a volcano," he said. "And you're winning!"

"My victories were short lived," the Roku beside him said. "Even I could not do everything."

The other Roku raced to the lip of the volcano, pushing through poisonous gases and around pockets of incredible heat. There, he sent a ripple of earthbending through the molten rock, and exploding the far side of the volcano away, sending the magma down an easier path, away from the village and everybody now paddling out to sea. But this Roku began to flag and fail. He had breathed too long the noxious vapors. A flapping wind began to billow around, and Zuko could see a red dragon descending toward the man on the ground.

"No, stay away, Fang!" Roku shouted. "I'm alright!"

Even Zuko knew that this Roku was lying. He turned, and stumbled away just in time to avoid a catastrophic explosion which would have vaporised him where he stood. The volcano had awakened with a vengeance, overwhelming all attempts to quell it. Roku coughed, sputtered. Another flapping approached, this one a dragon of dark blues.

"Need a hand, old friend?" Sozin asked. His voice was still strong for his advanced age, but considering how old Sozin was when he died, his vibrancy was not surprising. Roku stared up at him, amazed. "We don't have a moment to lose."

The Avatar and the Fire Lord joined forces one last time. Zuko looked at the ghost of the Avatar. "Is this the lesson I was supposed to learn?" Zuko asked.

"No," the ghost of Roku said. "Observe."

The two men worked together, all of their bending skills trying to bring a final peace to the mountain. And together, it seemed like it was working. The pipe settled, its heat diverted away by Sozin's skillful firebending, choked by Roku's earthbending. But the gases still erupted. And a rumbling sounded in the deep. The volcano was not yet finished. It would have its due. Both men seemed to realize this. And both ran.

As they fled, Roku did everything in his power to keep the Fire Lord safe, blasting away the poisonous gases with cones of wind, preventing tumbles into magma with earthbending. But one blast of toxins smashed up from the ground betwixt Roku's legs, smashing up and into his face. He gasped, he tumbled away. Sozin moved to him, reaching to pick him up... but then, he hesitated.

"I need help," Roku said. "I can't see!"

But Sozin had a hard look on his face. Callous, indifferent, vicious. "Without you, all of my plans become possible," Sozin said. "In twelve years, a great comet will appear in the sky, and we will have all the power in the world."

"Sozin, no," Roku coughed, gagged. "Please, don't do this..."

"I have a vision for the future, Roku," Sozin said. He called out, and clambered upon the back of his dragon. "Sadly, you are not in it."

Sozin flew away, as the volcano gave its greatest roar yet, hurling out a rolling wave of pyroclastic gases. Fang, the Avatar's dragon, swooped down, curling around the man, as though to protect him; the burning ash rolled over them. The world became darkness, before bursting into brilliant light. Zuko, Roku, and the monk were staring down at an Air Nomad woman, her legs splayed, an infant fresh into the world. Zuko looked to Roku.

"Is this... Aang?" Zuko asked. "I don't understand. What was I supposed to learn? That my great grandfather was a heartless bastard? I could have guessed that!"

"No," Roku said. "There is a deeper lesson for _you_, Dark Prince. Something that rests inside your very soul. The visions are not so important as the _medium_. Find the truth, young Prince, and you will finally be able to bring balance to yourself and to your soul."

Darkness became everything again. Zuko looked around. Roku and the monk were gone. "What? Is that it? You haven't told me anything!" Zuko raged.

* * *

"I didn't know it at the time, but I was looking for you, Aang," Toph said, her eyes brimming with tears. "You were my brother, and I did everything I could to find you. DAMN YOU AANG!" She screamed, the tears finally falling. "I spent two lifetimes looking for you! I clawed my way out of oblivion for you! I GAVE UP MY FACE FOR YOU! And when I finally find you, I don't even know who you are! I run away."

Toph dropped down on her knees in front of the torpid Avatar. "I needed to see you again," She said quietly. "I needed to know you were alright. I need... to make up for my failure, for that time that I couldn't be there when you needed me. I need my honor back."

"You already have it," Aang said, opening his eyes. Toph smiled, unsteadily, then pulled Aang into a bear-hug. "Aooh, Toph, I can't breathe..."

"It's about damned time," Toph said, but her usual bluster and bravado was not in attendance.

"I saw what happened here," Aang said. "Sozin and Roku used to be best friends, but Sozin betrayed Roku here, and left him to die."

"Tui La, it's like these people are born evil," Sokka said. Both identical sisters looked a bit insulted.

"That's not it," Aang shook his head. He still couldn't pull away from Toph, though. She had him, and apparently, she wasn't going to let him go for a while. "Roku was every bit as much Fire Nation as Sozin was, but when it came right down to it, he fought with everything he had to protect the world, and the people in it. And we've met a lot of people around here who are the exact same way. It's not that there's inherent good or evil in a person. Every person is capable of great good or evil, but it isn't in them at birth. It appears from the choices they and those around them make. We have to treat the people of the Fire Nation like they deserve a chance. Because they do."

"About time somebody came to that conclusion," Aan Jee said, picking at her fingernails with the tip of her knife. Toph just smiled, her head against Aang's chest.

"I told ya friendships could transcend lifetimes," she said.

"Well, there's no way you could actually know that..." Aan Jee said, but her sister just elbowed her ribs.

"Just give them a hug," she said. And then, Aang was being embraced by everybody in their odd, multicultural family. Except for Aan Jee, who stood back, shaking her head.

"You people are all weird," she said, but not without a small smile.

* * *

Zuko jerked awake, and felt something metal in his hand. He saw the headpiece, the one which Sozin gave Ruko in that vision. He threw it away. "That's no way to treat a royal artifact," Mai's voice came from nearby. Zuko looked over, and she was sitting on the other side of the bed, her feet up and her back against one of the canopy poles. How long had she been there? "Either you sleep like you're dead, or you weren't entirely there," Mai said.

"What happened to me?" he asked. "And what are you doing here?"

"I can't visit my boyfriend in his private chambers?" Mai asked, smirking. She reached into her sleeve and tossed something to Zuko. He caught and examined it. It was a ring, set with a quite unusual stone. The stone was clear, and a testing swipe across the handle of his dresser confirmed his suspicions. It was sized for a woman's finger, and had an inscription along the inside.

_For the other love_

Zuko looked up at Mai. It had been mentioned in one of Mother's letters. A symbol of her... indescretion. This stone was a kind only found in one place on this Earth; the North Water Tribe. It was harder than steel, and worth ten thousand times its weight in gold. The last time somebody got a gem of this size out of those lands was almost a thousand years ago. It was a crown jewel, set into the Phoenix Flare which now rode Father's hair. Only one man could have claimed to have been there since.

Uncle. Zuko looked up at Mai. "How did you find this?" he asked.

"You were looking for it," Mai said.

"But even I didn't know what I was looking for," Zuko said. Mai shrugged, a small smile on her face.

"I found it anyway. This is why you need me," she said. Her smile slipped away. "Now would you mind explaining why I had to sit here for six hours while you laid there like you were more than half dead?"

"I'm not sure," Zuko said honestly. He moved to the headpiece and prodded it with a toe. When nothing happened, he carefuly picked it up. "This used to belong to Prince Sozin. But he gave it away."

"Fascinating," Mai said, but she sounded anything but. He turned to her. Anybody else would have missed the pieces he was putting together. And she found the last bit, the last shred proof he was looking for, without even needing him to say a word.

"Thank you," he said, earnestly.

"You're about to walk out of here on some fool mission, aren't you?" she asked, smirking.

"I guess," he said.

"Don't get yourself killed," she offered, then silently left. She watched over him the whole time he was in that torpor. He smiled to himself. Of course she did. She liked him. More than liked, he dared to say. He wondered if even she would admit she loved him. It was a question that had to be answered at another time. Zuko pulled on the robes and headed out into the afternoon. He took the back exits, avoiding the crowds, as he moved to Ashfall prison. He had to know. Everything.

In due time, Zuko reached the prison, and stormed through the halls. This time, the guards, seeing him coming, didn't make any move to stop him. They just fell back, and unlocked the door so he could march straight in. They closed the door behind them, and moved away, as though unwilling to be anywhere nearby for what was to come. Zuko looked down on his uncle.

"I got your message," Zuko said. "And I burned it," A sad sigh came from the man, who moved to turn away. "But after I did, I had a vision. Avatar Roku spoke to me, telling me about his life, and how Sozin started the War."

Iroh finally turned around, facing Zuko. Surprise was on his face. "How did you know how to form the bridge?" he asked.

"I didn't. I still don't," Zuko said, falling to his knees. "I have no real idea what happened to me."

"There is a magic in this world, older than bending itself," Uncle said. His voice sounded a bit different, after all these months in prison. Less jovial. Less booming. "Certain objects hold a spiritual connection to those who bore them in life, and blood can form the bridge."

"That's what Roku said! But you said to consider the demise of my great grandfather! In the vision, he was still alive when Roku died! He died in bed, years after wiping out the Air Nomads."

"You have more than one great grandfather," Uncle said. "The magic requires a direct blood descent to work. It would be useless to me, but to you, or to your sister..."

"What are you saying?" Zuko asked.

"Fire Lady Ursa was Roku's granddaughter," Uncle said. "You saw the struggle between your _two_ great grandfathers," he rose, turning to pull something out of a false brick behind him. It was a spirit scroll. "That struggle continues, inside your soul. That is why you always had such hardship, battling between the best and worst aspects of yourself. The evil and the good are inside your blood, and are at war inside you. That is the legacy of your parentage. Your sister fights this war as well, but I fear she has little hope of success; I was always there for you. When Ursa left, she had no-one. Worse: she had Ozai."

Iroh handed the scroll through the bar. Zuko could feel a pulsing energy inside, like a tiny heartbeat. "I don't understand," Zuko said. "I just don't."

"Because of your legacy, you alone are in a position to restore balance and peace to this world," Iroh said. "None before you could. You may be the last who can. The people believe in the Avatar. I believe in _you_."

"But I keep screwing everything up!" Zuko shouted. "I can't seem to get anything right!"

"But you _never stop trying_ to do the right thing," he replied. "And that is worth a thousand golden deeds done with a dark heart."

Zuko took a step backward, staring at Iroh. "Tell me something," Zuko said. "And please, I beg you, don't lie to me. Just this once, I need to know the whole truth."

"What is it, my Prince?" Iroh asked. Zuko pulled out the inscribed ring.

Iroh looked away, in shame. "You had an affair with my mother," Zuko said. Iroh's silence was all the confirmation he needed. "An affair which you ended _twenty_ years ago."

"...yes," Iroh said. Zuko knelt down, fighting to control his voice.

"Uncle... Iroh..." Zuko said. "Are you my real father?"

Iroh looked up at him, his golden eyes brimming with tears. "Do you want me to be?"

* * *

_Ooooooh. Salacious. Leave a review._


	9. Nightmares

**Aang's not the only one having nightmares.**

* * *

She wasn't a woman to giggle or dance or preen. Those sort of habits would have been pounded out of her, had they ever appeared. They weren't what the family needed. What Father needed. And she certainly wasn't a woman to smile. But still, she did, right now. It wasn't a broad smile. Ty Lee had those in spades, and even Azula sometimes put on an angelic grin. Although, in the latter case, it was usually because she had something devious, dangerous, or deadly in plan. No, Mai was not a woman to smile, unless the mood struck her. And it struck her now.

"Come on, just skip it," Mai said evenly. "It's not like anybody's going to notice."

"Father wants me to be there," Zuko said. "He said so himself."

"So you're going to spend three hours listening to old men drone on instead of spending time with your girlfriend?" Mai asked, raising an eyebrow. She smirked. "Come on. Let them wait. I know I could certainly go for a fruit tart right about now."

Zuko couldn't help but chuckle, and he did look a bit tempted. It was astounding how quickly 'fruit tart' became a euphemism. But he had his mind set on something. She knew it was all but impossible to get him to change his mind once he had. "I gave him my word. I'm going."

Mai shook her head, rolling a knife along her fingers. "Are you going to tell me what your Uncle said to you that had you in such a snit all day?" she asked, pointedly. He stopped, staring at her for a moment. She wasn't an idiot. She could connect the dots. Even Ty Lee could have followed that map. In fact, the only person who didn't seem capable of making these connections was Zuko. It was a fact which Mai appreciated and despised, depending on the day.

"I don't want to talk about it," Zuko said. Almost anybody but Mai would have pressed at that point, but she could tell he found it deeply confusing and painful, so she let it rest. He'd tell her when he was ready to. However much she'd want to strangle it out of him in the meantime. He shook his head, then quickly leaned in, securing a short kiss. "It's just three hours. It'll be over before you know it."

"Yeah, and it was _just_ an Agni Kai against an old general," Mai said quietly. He caught her meaning, and his face grew serious. He nodded, then walked through the door into the war chambers. Zuko might occasionally be a dork, but he wasn't an idiot. He knew that she didn't say anything to be intentionally hurtful. But after years of having to put up with the back-handed conversations and intrigues at her Father's behest, she utterly refused to be anything but blunt around the people she cared about.

Mai walked away, going to find something to occupy her time for a few hours. She doubted she'd find something. She wasn't a woman easy to amuse or distract. At least she was an easy sleeper. If all else failed, she could just take a nap. She settled onto a bench, leaning her head back, when she heard a familiar voice.

"How long do you think they're going to be in there?"

"Did they just go in? It should be a couple of hours," an identical voice answered the first. Mai opened her eyes.

"Oh, great," Mai said. Gathered into a clump in a small chamber nearby were the Baihu girls. Four of them. They all looked identical to each other, and all sounded exactly like Ty Lee. But only four? Where had that other one gone? The little one?

"Excuse me," one of them piped up. Mai didn't have a clue as to which one it was. It didn't help that they were all wearing identical clothes, identical hairstyles, and identical makeup. There should be a _law_ against that sort of behavior. "Are you Mai? The Azuli girl who used to come to our house?"

"A long time ago," Mai said, letting her eyes slide closed. "What do you want?"

"Is it true what they say about the Dark Prince?" another one asked, an acidic tone in her voice.

"Excuse me?" Mai asked, her voice going flat. _Nobody_ called Zuko that. Not around her. Not if they didn't want a new hole in them. "What do they say about _Prince Zuko_?"

"That he's a royal bastard," yet another sister said. "That he is not the son of Fire Lord Ozai."

"That he should never even have been in the line of Succession," the last said. Mai leaned forward, cracking her knuckles, then letting knives slip between her fingers. All the girls went wide eyed at that. They might be Ty Lee's sisters, but they were nothing like her.

"I'm going to say this just once," Mai said with utter clarity. "_Prince_ Zuko deserves to be Fire Lord more than anybody else on this planet. And anybody who claims otherwise – of his right _or_ of his birth – is slandering the royal family, and should be whipped to within an inch of their life," Mai glowered at the sisters. "As is the customary punishment for such a crime."

The girls let out a unified squeak of alarm, then fell back, talking amongst themselves at such a rate that they might be able to equal one Ty Lee. Mai studiously ignored them. She doubted that they'd bother her again. But the rumors which were circulating in Ember were unsettling. If she had a bit more clout and reach, she'd probably have done something about them. As it was, she just made sure that the worst of it never reached Zuko while he was unprepared. Ember was a hostile place to him right now. Their stunt on Ember Island hadn't helped.

It wasn't long until she was drifting off in a nap. If she dreamed, she didn't remember it, but she awoke with a stale taste in her mouth and a moment of disorientation, as she often did when she slept in the middle of the day. There were voices coming down the hall, though. The generals, congratulating each other and themselves on some grand victory they had planned. Mai didn't much care.

Last to leave the room was Zuko. He looked extremely pale, and he moved rigidly, like he was barely in control of himself. She walked over to him, and he quickly grabbed ahold of her arm, leaning against her like she was the only thing holding him upright. "What's wrong?" Mai asked. He didn't answer. His eyes were wide, and he was sweating despite the coldness of his hand on her arm. She guided him to the room the Baihu girls vacated when their father collected them. He took a few steps into the room as she closed the door. Then, he pitched forward onto his knees and vomited onto the floor.

"Zuko!" she said urgently, moving to him. He just stared at the befouled obsidian. "Do you need a physician?"

Zuko shook his head, wiping away the sick from his mouth and leaning back into her. He stared through a wall, to something well beyond it. Possibly at nothing at all. "I was wrong," Zuko said. "Agni help me, I was wrong. Home isn't here anymore."

* * *

Katara ran through the forest, but she couldn't escape the voice. It haunted her at every turn, and no amount of running could leave it behind. She turned, tearing the water out of the trees, and hurling it behind her in a blizzard of icicles. She stood still, listening. Laughter drifted toward her. Dry, crackling laughter.

"I expected so much better of you, Katara," Hama's voice came. Katara felt that dread suffuse her limbs and she was running again. But she knew she couldn't run forever. "You had so much potential. But you squandered it."

"Leave me alone! You're not real!" Katara shouted over her shoulder, but when she turned, there was a ghost of white hair ahead of her, she came to a stop, stumbling over tree roots and almost landing on her face. She stared up as that face turned toward her.

"I am as real as you are," Hama said. She finally turned, facing Katara square. Her face seemed caved in; every ounce of water had been stripped from her, leaving her looking like a dessicated mummy, her eyes milky as Toph's and shriveled in their sockets. "Do you think you can keep running from me?" she asked, her voice so dry.

Katara got her feet under her and bolted into the woods, that sense of mind-crushing terror filling her with every step. She could hear laughter around her, pressing in from every direction. There was no escape. She felt her feet go out from under her, and coldness pressed in on her. Her hands had been frozen to the ground. She looked up, and the forest was withering. And as it withered, the water flowed, along the ground and up the bare feet of Hama.

Every step she took, the water flowed up into her, replenishing her, restoring her. Not just to the old woman she was, but beyond. Soon, she was young, vibrant. The girl that the Fire Nation stole. And the forest collapsed into dust. "You think you can escape me," she said, her voice now smooth, melodious. "But there's no escaping me. Not now. You're a bloodbender, Katara. I'm inside you."

Hama surged her hands, and the water holding Katara down flipped her onto her back. Hama's long nails tore at her parka, and that restored hand splayed on her chest. "And now, you're going to be inside me," Hama finished. And then, she began to feel that dryness, spreading through her. She felt her limbs wither, then crumble into ashes. She screamed.

Katara bolted upright, sweat running down her features freely. The waning moon was staring down at her. One sleeping bag over, Aang was snapping to attention, groggy, but awake. Everybody else was still asleep. "What happened?" Aang asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Nothing," Katara said. But the fact that she was drenched in sweat and her heart was hammering a league a minute gave her away. Whatever the rationale, he moved close to her and put an arm over her shoulders.

"Bad dreams?" Aang asked.

"Yeah," Katara said. "Again."

"I understand," he said. Katara stared up at the moon. Even in its sliver state, it still made her feel so powerful. But right now, that power just seemed poisoned.

"I killed somebody," Katara said quietly.

"So have I," Aang responded, just as quietly.

"No, you don't get it," Katara clarified. "Waterbending is who I am. And my waterbending killed somebody in the most horrible way I can imagine. I did that to her, Aang! Me!"

Aang's gaze swept along the camp, and he nodded. "I understand," he said. "My waterbending did the exact same thing. I should have controlled it. I could have destroyed the ships without a single loss of life. But that didn't happen. I screwed up because I got so angry I couldn't think straight. You just... took the only option you had."

"But then why do I feel this way?" Katara asked.

Aang was silent for a while as he pondered. "Because you never thought you would. Because you were so used to being the one who everybody comes to for protection," he said. "I mean, you practically raised your _older_ brother. You kept us going when we should have fallen down and died back in Si Wong. You live to help people. Sorta like me," he grinned suddenly. She couldn't help but smile at that.

"But what if I do it again?" Katara whispered.

"You won't," Aang said simply. "You took the only option that let you protect the ones you loved. Three years ago, I wouldn't have said this, but if you take responsibility for your actions, understand why you took them, and learn and grow from the experience, then there isn't any folly or evil in what you did," he paused. "Well, unless you became like Hama, but I'm about as likely to become the next Fire Lord, am I right?"

Katara felt a smile pull at her face. "You always were a wiseacre," she said.

"Naw, that's your brother's job," Aang said. "I just want the people I love to sleep without nightmares."

Katara rested her head on Aang's shoulder for a moment. "Thank you, Aang," she said. He lowered himself back into his sleeping bag. Well, it wasn't really a sleeping bag, rather a thick mattress that Ty Lee and her sister had stitched together, filled with Appa's shed hair, on Toph's request. Toph had been quite specific that Sokka and she get one. Katara couldn't imagine why. She preferred her sleeping bag. It was comfortable. It reminded her of happier days, that year spent without a goal or a purpose, no idea that Sozin's Comet was coming.

She looked over, and saw a glint of brightness against the dark. Ty Lee was awake. Of course she was. She was just about always awake. And she was flailing around with that staff of hers. Well, not flailing; practicing. She didn't know when she'd finally stopped distrusting the acrobat. It crept up on her. Maybe it was about when she realized that the Avatar himself couldn't keep Ty Lee and her brother apart that it sunk in. Ty Lee was many things, but she was guileless in her affection for Sokka.

Katara leaned back, closing her eyes. She heard a familiar snap and whoomp, like Aang's glider opening. She dismissed the notion. Aang's glider was long gone. She felt the Avatar tuck in close to her, and this time, when she slept, the dreams were either unremarkable, or absent.

* * *

Aan Jee slept late again. Ty Lee never knew why her older...ish sister always had that habit, but it never bothered her. What did strike her strange, especially now, looking at things from the outside, was how she always considered herself the second oldest of the sisters Baihu, even though there wasn't any real difference between them all, save for Zhu Di being consistently smaller than the rest of them. The baby sister.

She finally set her staff against her shoulder, leaning against a rock. They reached their rendezvous point a solid week and a half ahead of schedule. But that just meant that _she_ had more to do, and farther to go. They all got to rest. This was her last night here. She thought back, to months ago, when Aang was still comatose. The plan that Sokka and Hakoda had come up with. The day of destiny was so close. She could feel it.

Katara had stared hatefully at her, still and justifiably mistrustful of Ty Lee. She understood. Even though she'd pulled what strings she was capable of and gotten all of the Tribesman back to safe hands, in Katara's eyes, she was still Azula's lackey. Thinking about Azula made Ty Lee hurt even now. But back then, it was a different story.

"These schematics are a bit hard to interpret," the Mechanist said, pouring over Sokka's designs. "If they are going to work, we need time... and something do deal with the sinking."

"The Whalesh will pull through on that front," Hakoda said.

"That's the easy part," Sokka said. He pointed at the crude map of the Fire Nation on the table, the only one they could procure at any price. "The hard part is going to be once we hit the city. The path to the Royal Palace is very well guarded, and we only have the rudiments of their defenses."

"I wasn't paying attention," Ty Lee had said sadly. She hadn't thought she'd need to.

"Don't worry," Sokka said, patting her on the back lightly. "It's a lot better having any information than none. The real problem is once we get to the palace. That place is going to be a maze, and we've only got a few minutes of Eclipse to find the Fire Lord and take him out."

"That's where I come in," she said. "I know that Palace like the back of my knees. I've been every place people are allowed to be, and quite a few that they aren't. Since they still trust me, I'll be able to open the doors, get you all inside."

"Yeah, doors aren't going to be much of a problem," Toph said, eating an apple near the wall. She paused. "Unless they're made of wood."

"Still, reconnaissance is reconnaissance," Sokka said. He smiled at her. "I know you won't let us down."

She didn't tell them, but she had one other reason for going to Sozin City. There was somebody that she had to see. But she hadn't told anybody that. Not even to this day. Not even Sokka. She looked out onto the dawn, the sun creeping above the horizon. She moved over and prodded her sister with her staff. "Get up, lazy bones!" she said. Aan Jee bolted up, her kukri in hand. "It's just me. It's time to go."

"Right," Aan Jee said. She sat back down. "Can't I get another ten minutes?"

"No, now," Ty Lee pressed. "Come on!"

"Fine," Aan Jee said. She rose, and gathered the clothing that Ty Lee had given her. "But don't expect me to come with you on your little visit. Dad pretty much disowned me just like he did you," Aan Jee smirked. "I'm feeling like I might have to see what Azul has got for me."

"Don't get your hands cut off," Ty Lee said brightly, but Aan Jee was already walking away, down that secluded cove, to the boat she'd somehow gotten to come here. Ty Lee didn't know all the people that her sister did. She walked back to the camp, ducking inside the tent Sokka brought along. It wasn't just to keep the weather out; it was also to give them some privacy. And since Toph _insisted_ they get a bison fur mattress, it was probably the most comfortable place in the camp. She smiled down at Sokka. Her Phoenix King. Her brilliant lunatic. She didn't even try to restrain the smile she felt just looking down at him, as he slept, his limbs all splayed out. It was a good thing she didn't need much sleep. Next to him, she wouldn't get much.

"I'll see you soon... Loverboy," Ty Lee said. She leaned down and gave Sokka's forehead a kiss. He muttered something unintelligible in his sleep, then went right back to snoring. She turned, left the tent, and looked at the sun, rising in the east. Zuko always said that the sun filled him with such strength, that as a child of the Fire, they all rose with the sun. She didn't feel what he felt. She just smiled at the light along the heavens. She gave one last look around the camp, to Aang and Katara huddled close, to Toph, sleeping with her feet up on a log. To Momo, sleeping on Appa's belly, since the great bison was sleeping on its back. She desperately hoped this wouldn't be the last time she ever saw these people, these things. Been part of this family.

Ty Lee turned away, walking to the edge of the cliff, well away from the path Aan Jee took. She looked down. It was quite a fall. But she wasn't afraid. She snapped her staff, and with a clack and a whoomp, the glider snapped out to its full extension, the hardy fan red against shining white steel. She'd never used it before, but she trusted Piandao's craftsmanship with her life. With a smile that turned from sad to excited, she leapt off the cliff. And once again, the acrobat soared.

* * *

Sokka walked along the path, those uneven flagstones that went along one side of a cave. To his right, a creek burbled as it splashed down and out of the cave. Ahead, a gentle curve, then a wooden bridge. Past the bridge was an island, and on that island was a gate. Sokka had been here before. Many times, as he slept.

He'd promised he would never come back.

He walked the path, to the bridge, and stared up at the cascading waters that emitted from the glacier that pushed in on this place. The ice turned to water the instant it crossed the threshold, raining down and out toward the sea. He didn't belong here. Not anymore. He knew that for an undeniable fact. He was alive. She was dead. He was on Earth, she was the moon. But where was she?

"Yue?" he asked, looking around. "I told you, I shouldn't come back here."

"I'm sorry," her voice came, wafting around the chamber. He tried to see where the voice was coming from, but he could as well spontaneously start waterbending. "I know what you said. But..."

"What is it, Yue?" he asked. There was a long pause.

"I wanted to see you again. For the last time, like this," she said. Sokka looked around suspiciously. Something wasn't right.

"You're not Yue, are you?" he asked. He'd had a lot of experience dreaming. Usually, he just let it happen, but right now? Something was definitely wrong.

"Oh, you're a perceptive one, aren't you?" the voice changed. It wasn't Yue's at all. More masculine, more insidious. The Spirit Oasis began to change as well. "I had thought I could add another Tribesman to my collection. Pity. The ambush is as much fun as the kill."

Sokka looked around, and the cave had turned into the inside of a massive, hollow, rotting tree. He heard a chattering above him, and he fought to keep his nerve steady. "Who are you?"

"I have many names, but few survive," it said, and that chattering sound came closer. "I am called Koh, the Face Stealer," Sokka got an urge to run away very fast. "I'm surprised you could reach here in your dreams. Very few shamans or benders have that ability."

"I'm not a bender," Sokka said, trying to see this 'Koh'. "And I'm pretty sure I'm not a shaman. I'm just a guy with a sword and a boomerang."

"I see," Koh's voice came again. Where was he hiding? Up there in the shadows? "It wouldn't matter anyway. Bending doesn't work here. We made sure of that at the beginning of time."

Sokka swallowed, looking around. "What do you want?"

"You're hiding something," Koh said. "From everybody. From yourself. I want to see what it is. Call it... idle curiosity," the chattering came closer, and Sokka for the first time saw a form, like a massive centipede, descending from the ceiling. "I wonder if I'll find it _behind your face_?"

Sokka closed his eyes and _willed_ himself to wake up. His eyes snapped open. He was staring up at a tarpaulin. He pulled himself upright, feeling at his face. Nose, eyebrows, big flaring ears, lips. Yup. He still had a face. He pushed open the flap, and found sunlight glaring into his eyes. Probably just a bad dream. And if he told himself that enough, he might start to believe it.

He walked out into the camp. He already missed Ty Lee, but he had to keep his mind on other things. Namely, the ongoing project that was Appa's armor. He had initially thought it a project of about four days, but he kept on revising the armor as he built it. It would have to be light and effective, and that meant trial and error.

At one end of the clearing, Aang was repeatedly punching a tree, with Toph standing nearby, doing the same to a larger one. "Come on, keep a rhythm to your blows!" Toph shouted. "Don't let it get away from you! Don't give up, don't relent, and don't give it a chance to stop moving."

"My fists hurt!" Aang complained, but he didn't stop.

"You think mine don't? Suck it up, Twinkletoes! I'm gonna punch this tree down! Think you can do better?" she let out a laugh, and continued. Ever since she'd left Roku's home island, she started these... unusual training practices. Not that Sokka was going to complain. It kept Aang focused and sharp. Everybody was going to have to be sharp for this. Sokka settled down and began hammering a strip of metal into shape, holding it against the pieces he'd already finished to be sure of its fit.

As Sokka worked, he heard his sister approach. "Hey, little sister," he said, not looking up from his task.

"Can I borrow you for a moment?" she asked.

Sokka raised a brow, but set down his hammer and followed his sister. She didn't go far, just to the other side of the armor. Appa was sleeping there, and a flock of koala sheep were huddled around it like it was some vastly overgrown mother. One bleated as Sokka picked it up and put it behind him, using it as a living pillow. It didn't fight him, though; they were very placid creatures. "So what's on your mind?"

"I don't know if I'm going to be a part of the invasion," she said. "I can't live with the risk."

"Katara, this plan was for all of us to give everything we had, to end this war," Sokka said. "I get that you're a bit shaky right now. Probably because of Hama?" she nodded slowly. "I don't blame you for what you did. Honestly, I wouldn't have blamed you if you saved Aang over me..."

"Sokka, don't say that. You're family! How could I ever sacrifice you?" she asked, her melancholy flashing into mild outrage. Sokka got a small smile on his face. It was good to know he had her on his side.

"But the point is this: You did whatever you had to do to keep _us_ all alive," Sokka said. "You can't beat yourself up over everything you do. It's like I told Aang after he burned me. You've got to keep pressing forward," he suddenly smirked. "Come on, Katara, it's supposed to be _you_ picking _us_ up when we fall down, not the other way around!"

Katara got a smile on her face, small, but there. "I guess even I need somebody to pick me up from time to time."

"That's what family is for," Sokka said, reaching over to pat her shoulder. When he leaned back, the koala sheep hadn't moved. Not very bright, but quite pleasant beasts. He smiled. "Now you should probably get back to practicing with your magic water."

"It's not magic water, it's..." she said, annoyance edging into her voice. She halted though, when she saw his expression. "Very funny, Sokka. I'm going to make sure Toph and Aang haven't broken their fists yet."

Sokka stood, and the koala sheep finally got the hint that it was no longer a pillow and easily ambled away. He got back to work, running the entire invasion plan through his mind. Everything had to be absolutely perfect. He couldn't afford to have anything less. Too many lives were depending on his plan. He wasn't about to screw this up.

* * *

Fire Lord Azula sat on the throne, staring through a veil of blue fire to the world below her. And it was below her. Everything she had ever fought for in her life had come to this point, and she now sat victorious, glorious, and all powerful, leader of the greatest nation on the planet. She felt the heat pressing against her.

"Fire Lord Azula, the latest envoys from Great Whales have arrived."

"They wish to discuss terms of surrender," Lo and Li said from the shining obsidian floor. Fire Lord Azula smirked.

"Tell them that as long as they think they are in a position to discuss terms, the war shall not end," Fire Lord Azula said.

"Not theirs, Fire Lord. Ours."

"WHAT?" Azula jumped to her feet, the fire erupting in front of her and obscuring her vision entirely. "Bring them to me at once! I want to see the face of the man so audacious that he thinks I would ever surrender to those perfidious Whalesh!"

The pedagogues turned and left, but Azula couldn't remain still. How dare they? She was triumphant! She was Fire Lord! They slandered her name with their obstinacy. And now, they would have her throne as well? Never!

"You are doomed to failure," a voice came from the darkness.

"I refuse to fail!" Azula shouted. "I am strong! I am cunning! I have all the power in the Fire Nation at my command!"

"Nobody will help you," the voice said.

"Mother?" Azula shouted, letting the fire drop from the trough. The room was plunged into darkness. She ignited a ball of blue flame over her hand and walked out onto the floor. "Show yourself and cease these poisonous words!"

"I had such high hopes for you," the voice said. Azula's jaw dropped. It wasn't Ursa. A masculine form was appearing from the darkness, a masculine voice speaking. "But even as you held such _prodigious_ power, you were weak, childish; corrupted by your mother."

"Father?" she asked, the fire in her hand guttering and going out. The man extended his own hand, and lit by the red glow was Ozai, staring down at her, contemptuous. "I did everything you asked! I am your worthy vessel! Please, tell me what I can do to please you!"

"Oh, I can think of a few things," Ozai said. His smile was cruel. "Nobody can ever love you, Azula. Except for me. Nobody _will_ ever love you, except for me. And my love is not without its price."

Ozai flared out his hand, and the room lit up. It wasn't the throne room any longer. It was her own bedroom. The bed stretched out behind her. And Father was naked. Her eyes went wide and she turned away. "Father? What are you doing?" she asked, fear entering her voice.

"Everything has a price, Azula," Ozai said, reaching down and pulling her up to him by the front of her robes. "Nobody can ever love you except me. This is what you want, isn't it?"

"No, I don't want this," Azula said, trying to struggle against his grasp.

"Then why did you take this room as your own?" Ozai asked, a cruel smirk appearing on his face. "Why did you try _so hard_ to remove Ursa from your life? Why do you try _so very hard_ to please me? It could be so much simpler. A man has much baser needs."

"No!" she shouted. He pulled her closer, pulling her lips to his. She struggled and flailed, trying to pull herself away, but he was so much stronger than her. She didn't want this! "Let me go! Please! I don't want this!"

"Why not?" Ozai asked. He hurled her away, and she crashed onto the broad mattress. "It's what you've been fighting for, isn't it? All you ever wanted in your life was for me to love you. And now, I am going to."

"STAY AWAY FROM ME! _I DON'T WANT THIS_!" Azula shrieked. Azula wrenched herself aside, and she felt herself falling. She crashed onto the hard floor, pain radiating up her shoulder and ankle. The room was dark. She was alone. She was covered in sweat, and a sense of overwhelming dread suffused her, even as the dream, the cause of it, quickly slipped away. She heard a light clacking approaching her.

"Ma'am, do you need assistance?" the voice asked.

"No. Leave me alone," she said. Croaked, almost. The man turned and walked away, the clacking receding out the door. She didn't dare move until it was gone. She looked back at that bed, that huge bed. Her mother's bed. She couldn't bear to go there. Not tonight. She moved unsteadily to a large chair sitting beside the dresser. She pulled out something to cover herself with; one of Ursa's old ball dresses. It covered her like a blanket as she crawled up into the chair, and tried to fight a fear that she didn't properly understand. She stayed there, unable to sleep, too afraid to move, until sunrise.

Then, she burned the bed.

* * *

The firebender stared up at the sky as his vulture hawk's scream caught his attention. He had failed to destroy the Avatar. Not because of a freak celestial coincidence, but because of a blind earthbender. He was beginning to understand why Gahj Muul had such an intense hatred for her.

Of course, that hatred became obsession, and blinded him. The firebender didn't have time to deal with that sort of madness, and he certainly wasn't going to put up with a partner losing his mind and attacking him. He had better things to do. He had is own goals. His own purposes. And for those goals, he needed cash, and a lot of it. He held out his metal arm, and the vulture hawk landed onto it, its massive, tearing claws wrapping around the iron where any other arm would be torn to shreds. It was an accident in training which cost him his arm and leg. It was a piece of serendipity that got him a replacement. The firebender pulled the scroll from the oversized carrying case on the bird's back, and with his one good hand, nimbly flapped it open.

_The Fire Lord has deemed the following enemies of the state:_

The firebender ran his dark eyes down the characters, across the page. A few of these people were well outside the firebender's ability to reach. Hakoda of the South Water Tribe. Waterbending Master Pakku. Yingsu Beifong, though, that was a bit easier. It would be only a short trip across the ocean to secure her. He paused, rereading. Dead or alive. Excellent. Stryx had finally brought him some entertaining prospects. He continued reading, but one name leapt out at him, right near the end of the page. Pion Baihu, and her husband, the general Juo Hian Baihu. Interesting. He rechecked the date. Signed into action only this morning. If the firebender were a more expressive man, he would have smiled. He wondered what Baihu had done to so immediately incur the Fire Lord's wrath.

It didn't matter, though. In the end, the firebender didn't care what the motivations were for people wanting to kill each other. He figured, probably rightly, that if there were only three people left in the world, he would still have work, because one of them would want the other dead, and he would be quite able to perform that service. While bringing people in alive provided a challenge, there was a satisfaction to blasting them into oblivion that couldn't be replicated.

The firebender shook Stryx off of his arm and began to walk, his metal leg crunching against the ground. It required some maintenance after the last disastrous fight with the Avatar. He made a point never to let anybody get that close to him again. Especially not the earthbender. Without a whit of his satisfaction touching his face, he walked to the east. The Baihu family was going to have an unexpected visitor.

* * *

Aang watched, as the palace loomed in his vision. In other dreams, years ago, he imagined it a scene of horror, flame wreathing it in an eternal embrace of destruction. Ty Lee had told him recently what it was really like, but right now, her descriptions merged with those nightmares. A flash of movement. He was at the gates. Empty, save for men made of flame, staring down at him. Nobody moved. He stared up at them. The only sound echoing in his ears was the insatiable hunger of the flames.

A flash of movement. He was standing in the throneroom, on obsidian floors. Whatever those were. Aang was an airbender by birth. He didn't pay much attention to floors. But he did now. He could see himself, staring up at him in reflection in those floors. But that Aang was wrong. It stared back hatefully, twisting blue flames dripping up from his tattooed hands. The other Aang lashed forward, and azure flames smashed through the floor.

A flash of movement. Aang turned, and Toph was screaming. Her arms and legs were lashed with binds made of pure fire. They cut into her flesh, and the flames ran up to her shoulders, her thighs. Her eyes were desperate, her voice hoarse and winded. The bindings pulled tighter as Aang tried to run to her. She was so far away. Then, the bindings began to tear. No, it wasn't the bindings tearing. It was Toph. Aang couldn't look as the last scream died quickly.

A flash of movement. Katara was fighting against the ground itself, which was twisting around her in a malevolent cyclone. This wasn't just dragging her down. It was systematically crushing her. He leapt onto that swirling hate-pit, grasping her hands as she descended. No strength in his body could pull her free. And even if it could, there wouldn't be much left. She was swallowed up by the earth, her fingers the last to vanish into the hateful stone.

A flash of movement. Aang watched as hundreds of brave souls, Tribesmen and Whalesh, bowed in the center of a courtyard. A wave of fire swept forward, from the back of their number to the front. As it moved, there were no screams. But right at the head of the group, Hakoda looked up at him. Aang expected blame. He expected hatred. Instead, Hakoda just looked... tired. The fires reached him. Consumed him. Destroyed him.

A flash of movement. The throne. Sokka and Ty Lee were grasped, held aloft by a being made of pure, hateful fire. They couldn't scream, do anything but flail. Aang reached toward them, to save them, but his limbs were sluggish. He looked down. His legs had turned to stone, and that petrification was crawling up his body. The beast, Ozai, Aang instinctively knew, laughed; Sokka and Ty Lee crumbled to ashes like burned paper. Blink.

Momo stared at him; behind him, a scarlet sky. It made shushing motion, then pointed. Beyond the lemur, a great blaze fell out of the sky smashing into the ground. The world turned to fire and ash, only he and the lemur remaining. Momo climbed up onto Aang's shoulder, and he heard a voice, so familiar, yet so lost, whispering into his ear.

"_Wake up, Aang. You still have a chance_."

Aang opened his eyes with a scream, glancing around him. Katara was bolt upright in a second. Other eyes turned to them briefly. Aang ran a hand through his hair. It was early in the morning. Tomorrow, the invasion would begin. One last day here, then, destiny. "Another nightmare, Aang?" Katara asked.

"Yeah," Aang admitted. Where the others had just been silly, like trying to bring down Fire Lord Ozai without pants, this one shook him to his very soul. "They're getting worse."

"I know," Katara said. "You've had a lot of trouble getting to sleep lately. This is weighing heavily on all of us."

"It's our last chance," Aang said quietly. The others, having correctly guessed that there was no real reason for alarm – and since Aang was not alone in having nightmares – all settled back down, even though the sun was already rising. Everybody was tired. Everybody was scared. "It's our only chance. If we can't beat him during the Eclipse, I don't know how we will."

"We'll find a way," Katara said. She flicked a lock of his hair over his ear. He nodded, then reached over to his bag, pulling out his razor. He held it before her. She looked at it, then at him.

"It's time that the Avatar lived again," Aang said. She smiled, taking the blade and the mattress, so they wouldn't need to sit on the hard ground, and he followed her down to the water. She washed out his hair, sitting behind him and running her comb through his hair. One last time, he guessed. Then, she began to gently run the razor along his scalp. His hair fell away. As she worked, she began to hum, a tuneless song she always did when she shaved him in the past. He felt his heart ache for her as he listened, felt her so close to him.

Tomorrow began the invasion. He couldn't get away from that. And he couldn't bear to think of all the people he loved and cared for dying because he failed. Again. How many times? How many times had he failed as the Avatar? She tugged the blade once more, then ran a soft hand along his scalp. Smooth, shaven, and just a bit sensitive. It had been a long time since his head had been shaved. At least half a year. She stopped humming, and put the blade away.

"Katara?" he asked.

"Yes, Aang?" she replied. He turned, pulled her close, and kissed her. She was surprised at first, then clung to him tightly. When they eventually parted, she stared at him. "What are we doing?" she asked, a bit surprised.

"What I should have done a long time ago," Aang said. "Katara, you're my forever girl." Katara stared at him, then began to snicker, then laugh. Aang looked a bit mortified. "Did I say that last part _out loud_?"

"Yes, you dumb melon," she said, but she was smiling. She leaned in, with another kiss. "I guess that makes you my 'forever man'."

Aang stared at those blue eyes, trying to figure out where he was supposed to go next. He was a monk. He didn't have a lot of experience with this sort of thing. Luckily, Katara wasn't a monk. She was an 'unenlightened barbarian'. And that meant she knew exactly what the next step was. And Aang didn't resist in the slightest.

* * *

Toph punched at the sand. Every time she did, her fist moved a little deeper into it. She knew that it had been utterly remiss of her to put off training in the use of every form of earth, but she always considered sand to be such a backwards and barbarian form that it was beneath her. Her recent humbling rout at the hands of Muul – well, before Combustion Man covered Toph with every part that used to constitute him – taught her otherwise.

She punched deeper, sinking past her wrists. She had lived three lifetimes at the Avatar's side. A year ago, she would have smacked anybody who made that claim upside their head, but after the solstice, all of her lives had been laid out before her. She couldn't imagine any other way of being. She was Sud, the man who trained Roku, the man who made a promise. She was Yu, the man who spent his entire life searching in vain. She was Toph, the blind girl who finally found what she was looking for. In a way, it was liberating. She finally understood why she did those things which had baffled her before.

She would have been the first to wave away spiritual mumbo-jumbo, but she'd lived it. She remembered how it felt, falling into the pit of oblivion. The hopelessness, the eternity stretching out beneath her. And she remembered her promise, and the struggle as she fought her way back out. It was _impossible_. Nobody had done it before. Nobody could have done it before. But then again, Toph _lived_ for the impossible. Nobody could _bend metal_, either. A grin appeared on her face as she recalled that.

She punched deeper, now reaching to her elbows, to where the burns began to taper into unmarred flesh. She regretted the way she treated her mother. Not that her mother was right, not by any means: Twinkletoes had been nothing but right when he told her in the Great Divide that she had spent her life looking for somebody. And Mom got in the way of that. But the way Toph had treated her... that was just disrespectful. And for _Toph_ to realize it, it would have had to be egregious. One of these days, she was going to have to have a talk with Poppy, hash this all out.

Come to think of it, that was probably why she got so good, so fast. Usually, earthbenders just got stronger until they were middle aged. Somebody like Long Feng was usually as dangerous as an earthbender would ever be. But her? She started strong and plateaued at the age of twelve. It was probably because she had two lifetimes of earthbending experience from the day she was born. She wasn't going to complain though. It was _awesome_ being the greatest earthbender in the world. She took just a moment to wonder what ever became of Long Feng. Nobody ever mentioned him. It was like he dropped off the planet. She pulled her arms up out of the craters she was forming, and took a few steps down the beach, before beginning again. She would get a feel for this sand. It might be a stupid element, but it was going to be _her_ stupid element.

As she began to punch downward, she paused, her head tilting off to one side. She thought she heard voices, down near the water. She focused on it. Voices. From the sound of it, Twinkletoes and Sweetness. Their voices were pitched low, as though to keep others from hearing them, but Toph could hear them. And they were talking in that Water Tribe tongue. But she didn't need to understand the words to know what they were talking about. The quickness of their breaths, the sounds they made, the fact that she could almost hear their hearts hammering all the way from over here said everything that needed saying.

"_Attaboy_, Twinkletoes," Toph said, a smile pulling at her face. There was a stab of envy. Just a stab. She might be pretty damned awesome, but the fact was, now that she'd found what she spent the last century looking for, she needed something else. She was lonely. A part of her wondered if _he_ was going to show up. She really hoped he would. With that smile on her face, she began to punch the sand. Sooner or later, the sand would be her element, too.

* * *

Ty Lee walked the streets of Sozin City, her staff in hand, eager eyes exploring all of the places she'd used to see, frequent, adore. The boat trip had taken much longer than she'd hoped. She had a job to do, but the eclipse was yet a few days away. And she needed to see a few people. Just to be sure. She walked through the streets, and toward the Royal Palace. For some reason, an odd pressure fell onto her stomach when she saw it. Probably a good reason; she was technically infiltrating.

"State your business in the Royal household," a guard said.

"I'm visiting my friend," she said. The two firebenders, both wearing the face-concealing death's head visors, shared a look. "Princess Azula?"

"We can't just let rabble in off the street," the guard said. "Move along."

"Rabble?" Ty Lee asked. "I used to come here all the time!"

"And I used to have tea with the Fire Lord. Move along."

Ty Lee sulked for a moment. But she wasn't so easily put off. She hopped up onto a nearby roof, and waited as Agni vanished over the horizon. When nobody was looking, she bounded into the palace, across a gap that only she and possibly Aang could have made unaided. It took far better than a couple of glorified doormen to keep her out. She quickly slipped into a servant's entrance and navigated her way up through into the proper palace. She had spent a lot of times running through these halls, trying to play tag with Azula and Zuko. She was so young back then. They hadn't even met Mai yet. She walked, lost in memory, and almost blundered straight into somebody.

"Watch where you're going you..." Azula snapped, but her eyes widened when she saw Ty Lee staring at her. A mixture of emotions flashed across her face before Azula could replace them with a basic smirk. "Well, I hadn't expected to see you again. I thought you'd gone back to your family, or to that circus in Burning Rock."

"How could I stay away?" Ty Lee asked, excitedly hugging her oldest friend. Azula tensed up like a rock when Ty Lee touched her. "How are you? Are you alright? Have you been getting enough sleep? When was the last time you had your nails done? Oh, it's soooo good to see you."

There was just a flicker of warmth that escaped that smirk. "You do remember that vow you swore."

"One question at a time," Ty Lee said. "But I've only got one that really needs answering right now. Is that bed you were offering still available? I'm exhausted."

Azula shrugged, and waved her hand. "Of course it is. I'll show you," Azula said. "It is... good... to see you again. Have you been keeping up on things?"

"No, I've been sorta busy," Ty Lee said. Definitely true. "What's been going on?"

"A lot of discontent in Azul. Nothing _Father_ hasn't dealt with before," there was a weird tone to Azula's voice when she said that word. Something like fear. But Ty Lee didn't press it. If Azula wanted to talk about it, she would. Instead, they just went on about all the little things which made noble life so fun. Styles of hair. Interesting snacks from far off lands. A lovely abundance in the crops of chocolate from Hui. Apparently it had even become fashionable to lacquer one's nails as Mai was doing, a habit which Ty Lee was never going to mimic. Big nails got in the way of doing things. Fun things. Finally, Azula showed Ty Lee to a room. It wasn't big, but it was far and away better than she'd gotten used to living in, out in the world with Sokka and the others.

"Thank you," Ty Lee said. "This means a lot to me."

Azula nodded, and walked away. She paused, as though wanting to say something, but then kept walking. Ty Lee didn't know what that was about. Azula had always been so cold and collected. Ty Lee was quite exhausted though. She pulled off her outermost layers and flopped into bed, pausing only long enough to kick off the boots that Sokka had given her. Slippers weren't very useful when walking any distance. She lay there, in the darkness, waiting for sleep to come. For some reason, it wouldn't, not for a while.

She slid her eyes open, drifting out of a strange dream about Momo and Appa swordfighting each other, and looked down. There was an arm around her waist, and she could feel somebody pressed to her back. She glanced over, and saw the Princess, huddled tight like she used to, back when they were still young children. Azula's eyes were pressed closed, her face tight as though desperate, almost angry with effort. But she was asleep. Ty Lee couldn't help but feel a sad smile, and she just let her friend sleep close, hoping that whatever plagued her oldest friend's mind would vanish into better dreams.

* * *

**God it was hard doing the Azula bit. It doesn't help that I feel she really doesn't deserve what she's getting. More on that later. Oh, and did you figure out what I was leading up to? It should be fairly obvious by now. **

_Leave a review. Next comes the Eclipse._


	10. Black Sun I: A Child's Reckoning

**There were a couple of missed moments of awesome that I wanted addressed. You'll know them when you see them.**

**You have no idea how close I came to going a radically different direction when I wrote this. A decision I made at the end of the first section altered the course of the story from where it could have gone in a radical fashion, which would have completely broken it free from the path it now follows. But, for the sake of the story in my mind and the character development in question for the individual, I had to preserve a few things. So mourn what might have been, and enjoy what is.**

* * *

Zuko scared the hell out of Mai.

After his outburst following that war meeting, a dissonant serenity fell over him. He knew that he should be utterly stricken. He knew that he should be railing against the walls, lashing out at everybody around him. Instead, there was just that suffusive calm. Mai thought that he'd lost his mind. She kept trying to get a physician, but he told her exactly what had been told to him. She understood. And he scared the hell out of her.

He told her more then that. He told her to leave the city, to not return until after the Day of Black Sun. She was one of two people not in the Royal Family who knew about that ominous day. And she was one of the only people who understood the significance of it. One of two, and then the Avatar. Zuko knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the monk was alive. He'd seen Aang during the vision quest with Roku. And that meant that Aang would probably know about the eclipse. Otherwise, he would never have stayed in hiding so long. Azula nicknamed Zuko dum-dum, but he was a Royal, and he knew how to work things out, even if it took him a bit longer to see everything.

Although, it never occurred to Zuko that he'd stopped calling Aang 'the Avatar'.

Zuko rolled up the letter he'd written. He put it in a place only he would know to look. Since Mai knew him as well as he knew himself, it was therefore a place only she would know to look as well. He could have dropped it in her house, but he didn't dare. The eclipse would begin soon. The klaxons were already sounding. The invasion was here. Zuko knelt down, straightening his armor, and placing Roku's hairpiece in place, sliding the pin to hold it in Zuko's phoenix tail. Mai would find the letter, but he wouldn't be here when she did. He looked at those other, damning documents that he had located. He put them away, in a fire-resistant bag Uncle had purchased during the long exile. Every time he thought of Uncle, that rage, that fire of self-hatred rose higher. He had done so much wrong. It was time for him to do something right.

With perfect calm over a searing soul, Zuko walked the halls. The guards were going mad, scrambling to their positions. The invasion would be here soon. That meant that Zuko wouldn't have as much time as he'd like. Luckily, what he had in mind would either be over with quickly, or it wouldn't matter to him at all. He walked through the palace, to the secret places that headed into the volcano, where it still breathed sulfur and circulated magma. He followed the paths he knew by rote, and banged his fist against the grand, metal doors. The guards on either side made no move to stop him, and the doors swung open. Zuko walked inside.

Jeong Jeong looked annoyed, as he usually did around Zuko. "What is the meaning of this interference?" he demanded. Zuko ignored him. He wasn't important or relevant. There was only one in this room who was. Fire Lord Ozai turned from consulting with the Firemaster and toward Zuko. He waved Jeong Jeong away, much to the Firemaster's further vexation. Still, he, and the others, filed out of the room.

"Fire Lord," Zuko said clearly, unflinchingly. "I owe you something."

* * *

_Earlier_

* * *

Well, Sokka had just made a proper ass of himself.

Early in the morning, a group of ships came into the port. They were all Fire Nation vessels, but flew the moon flag of the Tribes. Hakoda and Bato had gotten _enthusiastic_ in their months coming to this spot. Not just one ship, but five, all of them to all outside perspective those of the enemy. And all of the allies that remained were aboard. It had fallen to Sokka to explain the invasion, and that's about when everything went wrong.

First, Sokka screwed up, putting up the wrong map. The second he put up was wrong as well. It was then that he gave up and just put up his nice expensive atlas that he knew somewhere within the proper map was. And then, he launched into one of the least inspiring speeches he'd ever heard, doubly depressing because he was the one delivering it. And when he screwed _that_ up, he found himself rambling about how Haru had a mustache now, The Hippo was surprisingly well educated, and that Suki once got Sokka to put on a dress. It was a merciful relief when Sokka's father finally put Sokka out of his misery, and took over the briefing himself. Well, as much as it was a relief, Sokka still felt like a screw up, again.

"We are going to invade the Fire Nation's capital at Sozin City tomorrow, which means we will be setting sail before noon today," Hakoda said. Katara was translating for the men from home, who couldn't speak Tianxia; It might have been the most commonly spoken language in the world, but that didn't mean _everybody_ knew it. "Our first obstacle will be the Great Gates of Azulon, separating Tenko and Bi Zuei Bays. Getting past them won't be easy, but there is a chance that we might be able to slip through before the recognize us," he paused, staring across the gathered fighters. "We cannot _depend_ on that chance. We have alternatives which will allow us to bypass the Gates, but we must carry the deception as long as we can."

Hakoda flipped several pages of the atlas, to show Sozin City. "Our invasion has two stages, a naval stage, and a land stage. We will take the harbors and secure them, which means we need the earthbenders to sweep the battlements and bring down our opposition. We capture the guard tower at the end of the harbor, then move up the main thoroughfare to the Crater Road."

"_We should _consider_ my plan_," Bato muttered. Sokka scowled at him. Bato wanted to detach part of the invasion force to destroy the pump stacks which Sozin built to keep water flowing into the crater. Sokka had immediately opposed that plan. They were here to bring down Fire Lord Ozai, not to kill thousands through dehydration and wreck the place completely. Most of the people living in that city deserved better than to be the targets of what was little better than terrorism. Luckily, Dad agreed with Sokka wholeheartedly.

"Once we secure the Crater Road, we're going to be in for the fight of our lives," Hakoda said. "That is why we're timing this invasion so that the Eclipse begins once we reach the Crater."

"Pardon me," the Hippo said, his voice much more erudite than his form and features would have led anybody to believe. "But is not our involvement in this battle hinged on the eclipse? Shouldn't it occur while we are taking the fortifications?"

"No," Hakoda said. "There won't be enough time to undertake the entire invasion under the eclipse. It only lasts eight minutes, and that eight minutes must be utilized to its utmost. Namely, by Avatar Aang taking down the Fire Lord while his powers are neutralized. We are here to make sure that he has that opportunity," Hakoda stood before his men, back straight and proud. "I'm not going to lie. This will be the hardest fight any of you have ever been a part of. But by this time tomorrow, we will be on the enemy's shores. By the evening, we will control the city, and the war _will be over_!"

The people cheered at Hakoda, but Sokka felt like an idiot. "What's wrong, Loverboy?" Toph asked. She had changed out of her Fire Nation garb, and into something like a United Earth Kingdom's army uniform, albeit one of gold and green rather than yellow and green. Short legs and short sleeves, showing her burned arms. She eschewed the customary bracers and the pan helmet lay on her back. Her hair was back in its flowing style, and her signature jewel strung through it. She had also wrapped a set of rusty chains around her arms and along her back. Everybody had abandoned their disguises, except for Sokka, because his old pants were more hole than fabric at this point, and Aang, because his clothes had been blasted to bits in Ba Sing Se. He had to make do with some creatively dyed and stitched bedsheets. It was close enough to a robe to make Aang satisfied.

"I failed again. It was my job to get everybody ready for the invasion, and I screwed it all up," he said. Toph shook her head and shoved him.

"Suck it up!" Toph said. "That's not your problem. That's public speaking. And let's face it, a lot of people suck at public speaking. Sure, your father gets people chanting at him. But if they survive, it ain't gonna be because of his fancy speeches. It's going to be because of your crazy toys and your insane plans. Your moment of glory ain't on that stage. It's out there, with the guys, knockin' heads and takin' names."

Sokka couldn't help but laugh at that. "You always know just what to say," Sokka said.

"Well, I do have a hundred and fifty years experience in being a guy," Toph said, patting him on the back before walking toward Aang. Great. Now the only other realist in Team Avatar was as batty as he was. They were all doomed. Teo rolled up to Aang, and Sokka snooped in.

"Hey, Aang, my father heard what happened to your glider," Teo said. He reached behind his seat and pulled up a staff, extending it toward the Avatar. "He made you this. I hope it works for you."

Aang took the staff, and gave it a twirl. Teo shook his head, and mimed a different motion. Aang tried again, and a broad blue wing snapped out into place. Aang lit up. "Wow! That's amazing! Wait. What does this do?" he asked, fiddling with one of the handles.

"That's for the snack compartment," Teo said, pointing up at a well concealed hatch. A twist, and some assorted nuts fell out of the chamber. Aang didn't know what to make of that.

"Hey, Teo, do you think we could have a chat abou..." Toph said, but Teo turned and began to roll back toward the wharf she and Aang had whipped up when the boats arrived. She looked momentarily crestfallen. "A hundred fifty years as a guy don't help me very much, here," she muttered, then she started walking after the crippled lad. Sokka went with her.

The three of them traveled in the same direction, to the nearest Fire Nation ship. Inside, there was a blast, and then some manic laughter. Sokka couldn't help but smile at that, as the Mechanist came stumbling out, waving away smoke. "Well, there's your problem," he said. "You can't let it touch the air!"

"Hey, did you figure out those plans I sent you?" Sokka asked. The Mechanist turned to him, replacing his fallen monocle.

"Yes. I have to say, your revisions were exactly what the project needed!" he looked positively delighted. "Waterbenders! That's all that they required!"

"Yeah, but what about the other one? The one without the..."

"Oh, that would take time," the Mechanist waved that away. "These are done right now!"

"They are!"

"They'd better be, or we're all sunk!" he exclaimed. Sokka nodded, chuckling to himself. That was kind of the point. He got onto the ship, moving up to the deck. He arrived just about when Aang was done playing with his new glider, and landed beside him.

"It's here," Aang said somberly.

"Yes, it is," Sokka agreed. "Are you as nervous as I am?"

"No," Aang said. "I can't afford to be nervous. I won't let everybody down again. This won't be another Ba Sing Se."

Sokka really hoped that Aang was right.

* * *

Ty Lee turned around sharply when she heard somebody clear her throat quietly behind her. "What is it?" she asked, straightening her clothing a bit. She hadn't expected somebody to come calling on her this early in the morning. She thought she'd have some time to prepare. Azula departed with the sunrise again, not a word said, her cheeks flushed with color. Shame, maybe? Ty Lee didn't know. She pretended to be asleep. Whatever was happening to her oldest friend would have to be sorted out on its own time. She looked at those piercing green eyes staring at her.

"The Fire Lord has requested your immediate presence," the messenger, if it was that, said sharply. Ty Lee felt her heart miss a beat or two. Had he known? Then again, she did technically _infiltrate_ the Royal Palace. Still, Ty Lee couldn't afford to screw up now. Too many people were depending on her. She put on a bright smile, even as she felt so uneasy she could throw up, and followed the woman as she moved through the palace.

Ty Lee was lead into the bunker, deep beneath the grandeur of the palace; it was a deeply buried complex, lashed in iron so earthbenders had no means of entry. At least, no earthbenders that these people knew about. She made a note of memorizing the pathways as she walked them. They would probably be running along them at great speed not too long from now. Finally, Ty Lee was brought to a chamber, layered thick with resilient metal. The Fire Lord's bunker.

"You are the woman who accompanied my daughter in the East Continent?" Ozai's voice came from the back of the room. Ty Lee immediately dropped to the floor, supplicating herself to the Fire Lord. She glanced up at him.

"Yes, Fire Lord. I aided Azula in the annexation of Ba Sing Se," Ty Lee said, trying not to let the nervousness get out of control. She had to stay calm. It wasn't like he was that scary. From the look of his features, he even seemed a remarkably gentle man.

"I hadn't had the chance to congratulate and commend you on your service to this house and to your Nation," Ozai said formally. "Your actions are a beacon to the ambitions of an entire generation."

"Thank you, Fire Lord," Ty Lee said. She looked up again. Jeong Jeong, the Royal Firemaster was staring at her, his darkened eyes shrewd and heartless. She turned back to Ozai. Was that it? Just a commendation? She wondered if he was hiding something. She looked deeper, to see what was going on with his aura.

He didn't have one.

Ty Lee's eyes dropped to the floor as a wave of malevolence and dread swept over her, Ozai its source. She had never felt anything like it. The dead had no auras, and the mad had no auras, but Ozai's was like being tortured for a year then boiled slowly in oil. There were no colors, no textures, no shapes. Just overwhelming terror rolling off him in waves. It struck Ty Lee so deeply, shook her so profoundly, terrified her so completely, that she peed herself a little.

"Is that all, Fire Lord?" she asked, her voice weak. She had to get away. She couldn't be near him. He was wrong. There was something so very very very very wrong with Ozai. She had to get away! Ozai made a dismissing gesture, and Ty Lee quickly got to her feet, and skittered away, hoping there wasn't a puddle where she had kowtowed. She got out of the bunker, and hid in a corner for a moment to try to master her shakes.

They were absolutely right. Fire Lord Ozai couldn't remain in power. Not one more day. She forced herself to move, first keeping a steady gait despite her damp pants and unsteady knees, but it soon erupted into a full sprint as she fought with everything she had to get the hell away from _him_. She put everything aside in her mind. She had only one thing to do. She had an old friend to save. She raced back to her quarters, not even bothering to slow for servants or nobles. If they wouldn't move out of her way, she just bounded over them.

She skidded to a stop inside her room, tearing off her befouled pants and replacing them, a task of a few seconds. Performers learned to quickly change outfits; she was never so glad she'd learned it as now. She grabbed her staff, and abandoned everything else. Either she would recollect it at her leisure, or not at all. She knew that the gates were in the wrong direction. She had to move fast. She could still _feel_ Ozai on her, like a stinking oil hanging in the air even after it had been burned. She shot out across the gardens, bounding up a gazebo, a tree, and then barely making it to the top of the wall. She had to move faster. She had to outrun fear itself.

She didn't bother taking the path down the vines. She snapped open her glider, and swooped down from the wall to the street, snapping it shut again in a practiced instant. Most people would have only gotten the barest moment's glance at it before it was already folded back up, and she was off, running away from the crater-city, down the paths to Ashfall.

* * *

The Great Gates of Azulon lived up to their reputation, Sokka noted to himself. A span of chains, somehow lit on fire, closing off all naval access to bay of Bi Zuei. Next to him, Katara scowled fiercely. "I guess we should have expected better," she said. She stared at him. "Are you sure that your contraptions are going to work?"

"No, but it's too late to worry about that now," Sokka said. Hakoda nodded, and waved a signaling flag.

"Everybody below decks!" Dad said, and all the inhabitants of all three ships, fighters from Great Whales, from the Tribes, from the ashes of Chin and other villages in the Earth Kingdoms, all of them vanished into the bellies of their beasts. Sokka shared one last nod with Aang, still on the back of his armored bison, before the Avatar and the bison disappeared under the water. Sokka really hoped that this was going to work.

By the time that Sokka reached the launching slip, the submersible was already mostly dropped into the water. He could tell by the klaxons that sounded in the distance that it wouldn't be long until the Fire Nation's quick craft reached them. They had to be quicker. So Sokka bounded onto the submersible's hull, hopping into the hatch and sealing it above him just as the chains let go and it slipped into the water. He looked out the windows. He was standing in a ship that was moving under the water.

"The idea for these subs was brilliant!" the Mechanist said, quite pleased with himself as he began to urge the craft forward. The craft didn't feel brilliant. He didn't know exactly how to stand to stay upright, it was cramped and smelled funny. "Using waterbenders to make it rise and sink, and to give us propulsion made construction refreshingly simple."

"Yeah, thanks a lot, Sokka," Toph said, weakly. "You've managed to invent a more horrible way of travel than flying."

"Helmet?" the Duke, sitting next to her, offered. Toph took it and promptly lost her dinner into it.

"There is one notable drawback," the Mechanist said. "We've only got about an hour's worth of air, so we're going to have to run close to the surface until we reach the headlands, else risk suffocation."

"Any way you think you can stretch that?" Sokka asked.

The Mechanist pondered. "We could tell everybody to breathe less?"

"We will be fine," Hakoda said, moving through the cramped quarters. The only people with any space were the waterbenders, near the back of the craft. They had to have space. They were driving the sub. All the rest of the space was used up by the Earth Kingdom Millipede tanks. Sokka thought he'd have to come up with them, too, but it turned out that they'd been invented about four hundred years ago, and just never got used, because they were so easily defeated by earth or waterbenders. Why they hadn't been used in the war effort _so far_ made Sokka seethe. He wasn't even eighteen, yet. He wasn't _supposed_ to be the voice of common sense for an entire war.

Hakoda glanced over at Sokka's sister, and then gently took Sokka aside. "Do you notice anything different about your sister?" he asked.

"Yeah, she's got her hair-loopies back," Sokka said. Hakoda got a hard look on his face. "So what was I supposed to be looking for?"

"She's acting strangely around me," Hakoda said. "Almost a bit... guilty. Can you think of anything she would have done to make her act that way?"

"Yeah," Sokka said quietly. "But if you're going to hear it, it'll be from her."

"I should have never let that boy near her," Hakoda said, staring out the window at the submerged bison and its airbending rider. Sokka sputtered. "If he sullied her honor, I swear to Tui and La, I'll..."

"Dad," Sokka said. "He didn't _sully_ my sister's honor," Dad was old-fashioned in some ways. "Just calm down. If she wants to tell you what's on her mind, she will. I'm sure Aang has nothing to do with it."

Hakoda glanced back at him, a scrutinizing look on his face. "If you say so."

The ship lurched again. "Ooooh," Toph muttered. "I'm going to need another helmet."

* * *

Iroh took deep breaths, feeling the energy from the sun pouring into him. He knew what was coming, and now he was ready. The pool of chi was a resource that few firebenders knew how to properly exploit. Many of them simply took what energy they had, and burned it as fast as they could get it. But there were other ways. Ways that only Iroh knew. He pooled his chi, its capacity restored with his physique. He needed to be ready, to firebend when everybody else couldn't.

There came a rattling at the door, and Iroh turned quickly. His tatters were sitting aside him, from when he was doing one final set of sit-ups. He wouldn't have time to pull them back on. The door swung open... and a girl in pink and a long brown braid quickly snuck into the room, closing the door behind her. Iroh's eyes went wide. When Ty Lee turned, hers did to.

"What are you doing here?" Iroh asked.

"When did you get beefy?" Ty Lee asked all her questions in what seemed like a single breath. "Have you been working out? What's with the food on the floor? Have they been being mean to you? Can you walk?"

"Ty Lee, one question at a time, please?" Iroh said, trying to get her to calm down. She glanced about.

"Step closer," she said. Iroh didn't see the harm, so he moved close to the bars. She leapt forward and gave him a rib creaking hug from the other side of the metal cage. "Oh, I'm so glad you're alright. I need to get you out of here."

"You will not succeed," Iroh said. "There are countless firebenders between here and the exit, and we are only two people," Iroh paused, sniffing. "Why do you smell so bad?"

"You're one to talk," Ty Lee said, pulling back, then she looked a bit ashamed. "I'm sorry. I... I met your brother. He's really scary."

"Yes, I understand that he is," Iroh said. "But that doesn't..."

"_Really_... scary," Ty Lee stressed. Iroh nodded. He understood.

"It does my heart a world of good to know that there are those who still wish well for me, but... You cannot save me," Iroh said. "I am sorry, but this is something that is simply not in your power."

"But I managed to get the keys and everything!" Ty Lee sounded desperate. "Please, we can..."

"No," Iroh said simply, sitting in the back of his cell. "You need to leave this place. You _don't want to be here_ this afternoon."

"But..." Ty Lee seemed to wilt.

"Please," Iroh had a small, warm smile on his face. "Just leave an old man. You have already done more for me just by coming today than you could imagine."

She brightened up at that. She slid the keys through the bars to him. "Are you going to be okay?" she asked, quietly.

"I think that I am," Iroh said. She moved forward, giving him one more through-the-bars hug, then ran back out into the hallway. When Iroh sat down again, he almost cried a bit. So she had chosen the right path after all. He had so worried for her. But now, she seemed to be following the destiny that they showed her. Was it wrong to take her away from one destiny, and blatantly shove her down another? Iroh couldn't say. But she was on the right side, now. Maybe that would make all the difference in the world.

Iroh turned, sitting with his back toward the door, and began to breathe deeply, letting the breath reach down, and nourish his pool of chi. He heard the door rattling again. Iroh pulled the tatters over his shoulders, hiding the keys inside.

"Didn't finish your breakfast?" Warden Poon chided. "Too bad. Ozai said that's all you're getting today. I bet you'd love to get out and stretch your legs, but I guarantee you, you're going to be in that cell for the rest of your life."

Iroh ignored the warden, and continued to stoke his inner fire. The time would come. And when it did, Iroh would be ready.

* * *

The subs crested the waters, opening their hatches and disgorging their passengers. Dozens swarmed up onto the hull, getting a deep and well-deserved breath of fresh air. Aang bounded from one to another, using his airbending to suck all of the foulness out and shove fresh air in. It was the least he could do. Especially because today was the Day of Black Sun. He finished his task, and leapt back onto Appa, as the now armored bison leaned against one of the ships.

"Now you be good for Katara," he said. "Don't let her get hurt, alright buddy?"

Appa let out a deep bellow, and Aang was satisfied with that. Aang looked back as a creak sounded, and saw Katara hauling herself up the saddle. He hopped up next to her. The two stared at each other, and he was lost in her eyes.

"Aang, I..."

"Katara, I..." both spoke in unison. "You go first, Katara."

"I just... It's been such a long time," she said. "When I found you, you were just this little kid. You've grown up so much since then. And so have I."

"Yeah," Aang said, not exactly sure how to bring up that... unexpected joy which occurred the day before the invasion force arrived.

"I just wanted to say that I don't know where I'd be if it wasn't for you," Katara said. Aang looked up. That was pretty much what he'd said to her, back when he was still a doofus who didn't even realize she was the love of his life.

"Oh, that's just low," Aang said. But Katara grinned, and she pulled him close, into an embrace. If he could have lived a year inside that moment, he would. "Tomorrow, everything's going to be different, isn't it?" he asked.

"Probably," she said.

"Katara, if I don't come back..."

"Don't you even think of dying on me," Katara warned. They had time for one more, brief kiss, before Aang saw Sokka sticking his head out of the hatch, and making a nixing gesture. Appropriate, because the next to come up was Hakoda. Aang stepped away from the Chief's daughter. He might be the Avatar, but he still didn't want to mess with an enraged father. Hakoda took a few deep breaths, then stopped, looking at Aang and Katara. Aang felt like he was being sized up for a casket.

"Well?" Hakoda said, addressing everybody present. "It's time to submerge these ships one last time. The next time we see the surface, we'll be landing on their wharf. May the gods give us strength, courage, and victory!"

A general cheer rose up from the closely gathered subs, and the people began to bomb back inside. Toph, back in her 'warrior regalia', diverted long enough to slug Aang in the arm before bounding back to the sub and descending back inside. Aang turned back to Katara. "I'll see you soon in Sozin City."

"I know you will," she said. He snapped open his glider, and for the first time in a long time, he soared with the winds. This time, though, he wasn't leaving everybody behind. He was the forerunner. He was the beacon. And when they came, Aang would be ready to end a war. He may be the Avatar, the last airbender to walk the Earth, but he didn't walk it alone. He felt a rumbling in his stomach.

"Huh," he muttered to himself, activating the snack compartment. "I guess that really did come in handy," he said around a mouthful of mixed nuts and legumes.

* * *

Dad was right. War was hell. The submersibles scudded up to the wharf, which Toph, the Boulder, Haru and the Hippo turned into a nice easy ramp for them. Then, the Millipedes began to crawl, dragged forward by the lesser but not-insignificant earthbenders inside. They eked their way forward, their hardened iron sides weathering all assaults from the Salamander tanks the Fire Nation employed, but the barrage came from almost all sides, and many of the warriors, particularly the Tribesmen, had to move unarmored.

"Rhino charge!" Bato screamed. Sokka lurched back to his feet, bringing his Space Sword up in front of him. While the others tucked tight and formed a ball of shields with spikes coming out of them – itself an Earth Kingdom trick that the Tribesmen had improved upon – Sokka ran right into the action. One of the rhinos tried to gore him, but he had spent far too much time around Ty Lee for her acrobatic skills to pass him by. He used the missed gore to propel him toward the rider. The rider tried to lance Sokka, but the Tribesman was easily able to split the spear in half, from tip to haft, and check the rider out of his saddle.

As the other rhinos broke against a cluster of stabbing spears, Sokka could see his father, surrounded by firebenders. He wouldn't be able to last much longer isolated as he was. Sokka shouted the commands that he'd accidentally learned back during the invasion of Chin, and the beast followed Sokka's commands as it would any Fire Nation soldier. Ahead, Hakoda was brutally effective, shielding himself with a dead firebender, as his spear, already red with blood, lashed out at others. When Sokka came close, he finally hurled the weapon away, impaling a soldier as he swung up into the saddle.

"You came just in time, I was beginning to wonder if everybody else had left," Hakoda said with a bloodthirsty laugh. That was Sokka's father. Kind and compassionate with his people, but brutal with his enemies. It was part of the reason he'd risen to Chief. "And where did you learn to ride rhinos, Son?"

"Long story, Dad," Sokka said. "We're getting pounded out here! Those battlements are damaging the Millipedes."

"Then we have to bring them down," Hakoda said. Sokka brought him back to the cluster of men, and Hakoda leapt off, barking orders. The strongest earthbenders moved to the walls, pounding their fists into the stone. Even the reinforced stone couldn't hold, and their earthbending tore the turrets which were hurling down explosive death crumbled and collapsed down the wall. Two down, three dozen to go. Katara landed Appa nearby, pulling water from the jugs on the back of the tanks to refill her flasks.

"This is taking too long," Sokka shouted over the din.

"You've got a better idea, Sparky!" Toph shouted back as she rolled in on a wave of stone. Sokka rubbed his chin for a moment. A blast smashed into the side of an already damaged Millipede, and the whole thing tipped over onto its side. The Hippo righted it, but it was obvious that it wasn't going to run true again.

"The Boulder sees that we're being surrounded!"

Sokka looked back, and saw that indeed, Salamander tanks were closing in from the mouth of the river. A few of the Whalesh who had elected to remain with the crafts were pinned down, while others surged toward the invasion force. Sokka looked up at the turrets on the walls. "Bringing the turrets down takes too much time," Sokka said. "But if we can make it so they can't aim at us, then they'll be useless. Can you bring up a wall cutting off their line of sight?"

"Easily!" the Hippo exclaimed.

"Should the Boulder protect our vulnerable backside?" he turned to face the Salamanders behind him.

"No need," Hakoda said, pointing to the beachhead. A huge form began to well up out of the water, dripping and sopping. It was green, disgusting, huge, and familiar. He'd almost gotten drowned by it in Misty Swamp. It was Hue. Hue began to do his crazy plantbending, smashing aside the Salamanders, and giving the Whalesh a chance to push the Fire Nation back.

"We need to keep pressing forward!" Hakoda said. He grabbed a lost Fire Nation spear, and began to press his attack, even as the battlements above slowly went silent, unable to see or fire upon their targets. Sokka was pleased for a moment that his plan was coming together so nicely, until he realized that his father was running, alone and unsupported, to deal with a turret himself. Sokka heeled his stolen rhino toward the fight. Hakoda quickly pulled himself up into the slit which kept firing explosives at the army. What was Dad thinking?

Sokka had just gotten close when he started hearing the screams of pain, then a hiss, then an enormous explosion. His eyes went wide, and he raced to the back of the turret, and saw Hakoda lying on the ground outside, clutching his side. A chunk of shrapnel roughly the size of Sokka's hand was jutting out of his lower ribs. "Dad!" Sokka shouted, abandoning his rhino. He turned toward the army. "Katara! Dad needs help!"

He didn't know how she heard him over the war, but she must have, because she made a bee-line directly for Sokka, leaping off of Appa before the bison even hit the ground. She rolled, and immediately pulled out her water, trying to heal him. "I need to go somewhere safer!" she said. Sokka understood. Healing took time. They didn't have time here.

"Then we haven't got time to waste," Sokka said. He pulled his father up and limped him toward Appa, even though he could guess how much pain his father was in. Appa quickly dodged and weaved through the air, landing near where Hue was now dominating the beachhead. When they landed, and Hue used a plant limb to lower Hakoda to the ground, Sokka turned on the monstrosity. "What took you so long? We were getting slaughtered out there!"

"I was communing with nature," Hue said sarcastically from inside his living shell. "It takes a long time to gather this much seaweed."

Sokka turned away from the Whalesh waterbender and to his sister. "How bad is it?" he asked.

Katara shook her head. "I can stop the bleeding, but he's badly hurt," she already eased the shrapnel out of the wound. The blood pooled, rather then jetted, so that was a good sign. Or was it? Sokka didn't know wounds very well. She worked her healing mojo on it some more. "This is going to take some time. Dad, you're not going to be able to finish this fight."

"But I have to lead the men," Hakoda said weakly, pink froth spattering out of his mouth when he spoke.

"Just stay here. The fight is over for you," Katara said. Sokka sighed. Toph was nothing but right. This was Sokka's moment of glory.

"I'll do it," Sokka said. "I'll lead the men."

Hakoda gave him a look, then a small, knowing nod. Sokka would have beamed with pride, but right now, he was just tired, desperate, and no small bit afraid. He pulled the wolf head helmet off of Hakoda, and settled it upon his own shoulders. Katara looked at him. "Keep yourself alive," she said.

"Keep Dad alive," he replied. Then, he moved forward, into the breach. For glory and valor and all of that other stuff that Dad said to make people feel good about sticking sharp things into people. His own Space Sword had its fair amount of red on it, but he didn't have time to think about that. He didn't have time for anything but now. And now, Sokka, of the South Water Tribe, led an invasion on the Fire Nation, with less than two hundred troops, on a Day of Black Sun. Tui La, he must be_ frickin' insane_!

* * *

Ozai's eyes glinted as Zuko took a deep breath, throwing aside the bag. "So," he asked. "What is it that you owe me, _my son_?"

Zuko's eyes narrowed at that twist of inflection. So, either Ozai had started that rumor, or else enjoyed its benefits enough not to contradict it. "Five and a half years ago, I did something shameful," Zuko said. He unbuckled his armor, letting it slide to the ground with a clatter. "I spoke out of turn in a war meeting, incurring the wrath of those around me. And when given a chance to remedy this disgrace, I chose to be a coward. I chose not to fight," Zuko said. His words had been chosen very carefully. They weren't true, he didn't mean any of it, but they needed to be perfect. "In doing so, I dishonored myself and my house. What I owe, you, _Father_," he twisted the inflection as Ozai did, "is a proper Agni Kai."

Ozai stared at his son for a long moment, then erupted into laughter. "I had always known you were a fool. But I never thought you were suicidal."

"Does that mean you won't complete the Agni Kai you started?" Zuko asked. Ozai's laughter guttered down to chuckling. He smiled, casting off his robes.

"I'm surprised to see this from you, Zuko," the Fire Lord said. "I had thought you contented with your acquisitions, your fame and your status. Your little... woman."

"She isn't my problem anymore," Zuko said.

"You didn't answer my question, Zuko," Ozai said. He turned, taking up a firebending stance. "What do you want, from this?"

Hearing Ozai unknowingly parrot Iroh's words that almost brought Zuko to the brink of his own destruction brought a smirk to Zuko's face, and hatred into his hands. He'd had an answer then. That answer obviously wasn't the right one. "I'm just getting my honor back," he said. Then, he lashed out, a blast of fire which seared an electric blue across the room.

It had never occurred to Zuko that he would win this. But it had to be done. Somebody needed to stand up to Ozai, and today was the _only_ day that Zuko could do it. What Zuko had in power, from whatever source Zuko couldn't say, Ozai had more of experience. The blue hot punch was smashed aside, turned by a fist wreathed in golden fire.

"There," Ozai said, a smile on his face. "Now, you are fighting as I would expect a son of the Fire Lord to. Not as a weakling and a coward."

Ozai lashed forward, creating two roiling balls of flame which coursed through the air. Zuko stepped forward between them, and moved through a Kata he'd developed from waterbenders, turning the fire not aside, but around him. He then lashed it forward, adding his own azure fire to the mixture, a rope of deadly, multicolored fire, powered in part by Ozai, surged toward the Fire Lord. Ozai's eyes went wide, and he rocketed up out of its path, held aloft by blasts of fire at his hands and heels.

Ozai wasted no time responding. He twisted in the air, launching two axe kicks, which slammed down onto Zuko. He powered through the first with a shockwave of percussive force, but the second threw Zuko to the floor, batting at his singed clothing. Ozai laughed as he landed. Zuko didn't like that sound at all. He twisted, spinning himself to his feet, and letting the fire tear away from his legs as he did so. Ozai cut through the ropes of fire, and continued to advance.

"It's good that you didn't face me when you were still a child," Ozai said. "Your defeat would have been just as humiliating, but now, at least, you have the spine to put up something of a fight."

Zuko didn't answer him, instead creating an enormous percussive blast, one that even at the great distance between he and his father would knock the other man back. Ozai didn't even lose his footing, only staggering back a few paces. Then, Ozai got a smug look on his face, and began to gather fire around his hands, sweeping out toward Zuko in a great wave. Zuko stood his ground, slamming his hands together and focusing his chi out along them, into a knife just past his fingertips. The fire parted along that knife, flowing to either side of the Dark Prince.

Ozai looked more than a little surprised at that. "I must say, I am impressed," Ozai said. "Perhaps I was mistaken in putting all of my attention on Azula. It seems I have another worthy vessel before me. Who would have ever thought it would be you?"

"I'm not looking for your patronage," Zuko said, settling into a more traditional firebending form. "Besides, you and I both know that you would _never_ have me on the throne. It would abase your sensibilities too much to see a bastard as Fire Lord."

Ozai's grin returned. "So you _have_ heard the rumors."

"They're true," Zuko said. "You aren't my father. You never were."

Zuko surged forward, two fingers of each hand leading, and a flurry of blue balls of fire seared toward Ozai. He twisted a wave of fire in front of himself and the blasts were spun away, detonating around him and throwing shards of rock before Ozai's feet. Ozai looked at him, unimpressed.

"Now I'll have to refinish that floor," Ozai said. "Just another of the manifold costs of having you in my family."

Zuko lashed out again, this time imparting a massive backspin on his column of fire. When Ozai tried to deflect it, he found that it would not obey him. It knocked him aside, an irresistible pinwheel of fire. Ozai's visage went from amused to infuriated. He began to bend, and a particle of fire appeared in his hand. It swelled and snapped, then blasted toward Zuko, popping and cracking as it flew. Zuko's eyes went wide, and he dove to one side, letting that concentrated explosion slam into the door behind him, blasting it open. Zuko kipped up, taking a calming breath as Ozai did the same.

The Agni Kai was only just begun.

* * *

Aang flew above the city, moving carefully from rooftop to rooftop. He had to be subtle, here. As much as he would love to announce to the world that the Avatar had returned, so much so that it burned desperately in his belly, he knew that this was his one shot. But something wasn't right. The people milling about, the klaxons ringing around the crater, it all seemed appropriate, but for some reason, one that Aang couldn't put a finger on, he felt uneasy.

Aang soared from a roof into an open window just across from the palace. He blinked as he looked around. This room was much darker than most that he saw in the Fire Nation. Like its owner wanted it drab. And there were knives aplenty on racks along the wall. Still, Aang didn't have time to critique interior decorating styles. He had to go up. He moved upward in the house, to the messenger hawk pens. They keened at his intrusion, but with the noise in the city, theirs would be overlooked. Another pause, to make sure nobody was looking for him, and then, he soared again, this time into one of the upper windows of the Royal Palace.

He expected he would have to fight his way down, but the Royal Palace, quite unlike the crater-city outside it, seemed utterly abandoned. Not so much as a whisper wafted across the floors. He moved quickly, summoning an air scooter to make it relatively quiet, and zipped along the palace, moving downward to where Ty Lee had told him he'd find the throneroom. She hadn't bet he'd be there, but it was a good place to start. Aang leapt off his scooter and smashed through the doors leveling his staff before him. The throneroom, as feared, was empty. There were other destinations.

Aang surged through the palace again, and still, he saw nobody. No servants, no guards. Nobody. He shot through the Fire Lord's chambers, through the gardens at the back. Nothing! He let his scooter dissolve as he reached the front doors of the Royal Palace. Ozai was nowhere to be seen. Nobody was.

"Fire Lord Ozai!" Aang shouted in frustration. "Where are you?"

* * *

Sokka leapt off of the tram right before it slammed into the wall. A second later, the fuses he'd lit all set off the barrels of blasting jelly, bringing down the wall and causing the entire central tower to issue cracks up toward its highest reaches. If Sokka were inside and saw that, he'd probably get out the first chance he could. The Millipedes that remained walked up the pathways, the fighters packed behind them to protect them from the firebenders which still walked the tower courtyard. But they'd broken through. They were in Sozin City. Only two miles to go.

Appa landed nearby, and Katara slid off. The Millipedes were already pushing through the streets, and the men were holding firm between them. "What's going on? Is Dad alright?" Sokka asked.

"He can walk," Katara said, supporting her father's weight. "But he won't be fighting today."

"I had to see it for myself," Hakoda said. "See my son, the warlord."

"I'm not a warlord, Dad," Sokka said, distracted. "I'm just the guy with the sword and the boomerang."

They were pushing the soldiers and firebenders back, but Sokka got a weird feeling. Bato moved to Sokka's side, clapping a hand on Sokka's shoulder. Bato looked down at him with a grin on his bloodied face. "The invasion is moving along nicely."

"The Fire Nation is falling back," Tyro, the white bearded earthbender, said. "As long as we keep up the pressure, we'll march them right down the other side of the volcano!"

"Sokka, we're on our way to victory," Bato said triumphantly. Sokka turned away, with a glance to his sister and his father. Ahead, a Salamander tried to run Toph down, but she punched it a few times, and it collapsed into an assortment of useless parts. The Whalesh, with their katana swords and waterbending kept the soldiers and firebenders out of the their forces way. The earthbenders changed the battlefield to suit their desires. Sokka scowled.

"It doesn't feel like victory," Sokka said, trying desperately to figure out what was so out of place. The Crater Road was right ahead of him, switchbacking up into the mouth of the volcano. So close. But still, that feeling. "Something just isn't right."

* * *

_To be continued. Yes, I'm a bastard._

_Leave a review._

**Review-based Edit: Damn it, you're right. I meant to start that rumor back in chapter 4. Gimme a second and I'll correct that error.**


	11. Black Sun II: Darkness Falls

**Andross once again lets me know where I've screwed up in the narrative department. Good. I need somebody willing to hold my metaphorical danglers to the hotplate.**

**All the foreshadowing that I've been putting in this story since The Desert pays off, although it won't be _obvious _until next chapter. As for the other moments of missed awesome that I thought had best become un-missed, I knew I couldn't let Iroh just _vanish_. And some... details about Ty Lee's friendship with Azula come to light. Fun stuff. **

* * *

The drive up the Crater Road was slow, and torturous. Every few minutes, the entire group had to huddle while the earthbenders brought down the potent defenses higher up on the slope. Unlike the battlements below, it didn't matter how well they were blocked off; they were always a threat. Bato handed down another short-hand report, which Sokka skimmed over.

"We've got firebenders moving up behind us on the thoroughfare," Sokka said. He turned to the blind earthbender who kept shuffling her feet, and pointing out where Salamanders were trying to lie in wait above. "You're going to have to bring down the road behind us. It'll slow down their tanks, and make it impossible for their foot troops to follow us."

"If you do that, then this is going to be a one way trip," Bato said.

"Everybody knew it would be," Hakoda said. "We'd either be victorious or dead."

"Don't talk like that, Dad," Sokka said. "It's just our best option. Bring down the road."

"On it," Toph said, and the cliff began to slide, rubble choking the road and making ascent nigh impossible except for the maddeningly resilient Salamander craft. Sokka ticked a few markers onto his map. Something was definitely off. Things were moving too smoothly.

"Dad, settle down," Katara said, still healing him even as she helped him walk. "It's going to be alright. You don't need to keep pushing yourself."

"I need to be at the front. You understand that, Sokka," Hakoda said. Sokka just scowled at his maps, then up the hill.

"The Eclipse is going to start soon," he took out the time-piece the Mechanist made for him. "A few minutes from now. We don't have enough time to just hold to the road. Toph, do you think you and the others might whip up a solution?"

"Get a hundred and eighty people, plus three Millipede tanks, up a mountain, in two minutes?" Toph asked. She gave a glance over to the Boulder and the Hippo. "How about something difficult?"

Sokka couldn't help but smile. "Everybody, group together. We're taking the express lane."

Working together like one organism, the three most powerful earthbenders created a vast shelf out of an entire switchback of the road, and began to move it up, spiraling upward and away from the rest of the path. Bato let out a dismayed sigh when the path didn't wreck the pump stacks, but Toph was on the same page as Sokka on that. When the rise finished, the Crater Road was useless to just about everybody, and they were overlooking a part of the volcanic crater without a path leading to it.

"Sokka, is that?" Katara asked, pointing up. Sokka squinted through the twisting light, and saw something approaching... from above.

"Aang!" Sokka shouted, as the Avatar landed nearby. But his enthusiasm was quickly tempered by the look on Aang's face. "Please tell me you're here because Ozai was a total wuss and you beat him without the eclipse."

"Ty Lee was right. He wasn't home," Aang said. "They knew."

Sokka groaned. "Why can't anything I plan _ever work_?" he roared.

"We can still do this," Aang said, his eyes set hard. "We can still win the day. We just need to find out where they'd be hiding."

"There's a bunker under there," Sokka said. "We just need to find it."

"Shouldn't we wait for Sugarqueen to get back?" Toph asked.

"We don't know when she was supposed to meet us, or where," Sokka said. "We have to go now. The eclipse starts any minute."

"Wait, what if this is a trap?" Katara asked, letting their father sit on a rock. "I mean, shouldn't we use this time to make sure we get out safely?"

Sokka looked away from his sister. She was right. Everything felt off from the moment they pushed past the battlements, but he had kept putting it aside. What if one step further was one step too many? He couldn't make this decision alone. "What do you think, Aang? Whatever you choose, I'll back you."

"The men all came here willing to give their lives to end this war," Hakoda said. "They will accept any order you give them."

Aang took a deep breath, then stared at Sokka. "If there's a chance we can still win, we have to try. Katara..."

"I have to stay here with Dad," she said. Hakoda waved his hand and shook his head, but when he coughed, pink froth still came up. Aang stared at her a long moment, then gathered her hand, pressing it to his brow with a pained expression, before turning and blaring on his bison whistle. Appa quickly came and spirited them to a spot well away from the army. They would have to finish the invasion on their own. Above, the sun began to slowly vanish, as the great black disk of the moon began to move before it.

* * *

Zuko knew he couldn't win, but he kept fighting. The humor on Ozai's face had long since turned from pitious to cruel, and now, he moved forward like a machine, his every trust of hand or foot erupting fire. Zuko was used to being under constant pressure, though. And he was used to deflecting fire in ways thought impossible.

A flurry of fiery arcs cut toward him, and he cut through them with chops of his hand. It still hurt; he'd have been better off if he'd used the swords at his back. It was a technique he developed quite by accident while saving Aang from Admiral Zhao in Pohuai Stronghold, to break the flame without using flame. And it was the only thing which kept them from driving Zuko back.

Zuko finally broke through that onslaught to hurl some arcing waves of his own, electric blue, delivered with circle kicks and sweeping hands. For just a moment, perhaps by the mad heat of the blue flames, Ozai fell back, struggling to keep the assault from reaching him. But that wouldn't last long.

Ozai shifted momentum by spinning to one of the great iron beams and bending something into the back of it. The entire beam buckled, and chunks of rock began to fall down around Zuko. Distracted, Zuko could only fall back as Ozai bent blast after blast of fire at him, culminating in a long, searing column which Zuko only held at bay with his chi-knife technique. If he lived long enough, he was definitely going to thank Iroh for teaching him that. Zuko twisted the fire the Fire Lord bent at him around him, and then swept it out. Ozai's own attack destroyed itself.

"You have some unusual talents," Ozai admitted, letting the fires from his hands die away. "But you are still a child. I could refine them. Stand with me, Zuko. Take your place as my son. Beside me, you could have honors and glories such would make the heavens weep."

"You have nothing I want," Zuko said. "For so long, I thought if I could impress you, maybe you'd actually love me. But you never loved me. How could you? You never loved anything."

"You walk on dangerous ground, Zuko," Ozai said, his tones as threatening as they could possibly get. "This is your _very_ last chance to redeem yourself."

"I've already been offered redemption, by a better man than you," Zuko said. He smiled, as the outrage sparked in Ozai's face. Then, the fury began, and Zuko used every ounce of his skills to stay alive. Every movement, ever twist, every breath, so desperate, so vital. He fought like a cornered badgermole. Strange how he'd compare himself to the Earth Kingdom's beast. But it was true. Nothing was more dangerous. And at this moment, nothing in all the world had more rage, and more reason for it, than Zuko.

* * *

"What do you feel?" Aang asked. He stared down as the earthbender casually tossed her pan helmet away, and ran her hands along the ground. "Was she right? Is there something down there?"

"Yup," Toph said. "There's hundreds of natural and sculpted tunnels criss-crossing the volcano."

"What about the bunker?" Sokka asked. Toph glanced back at him, then slammed her fingers down into the rock. The rock gave way.

"There we go. There's something big, heavy, and made of metal way down in there. That sounds like a bunker to me," she turned toward the wall and made a very basic earthbending motion, one Aang had mastered long ago. The earth pressed away, forming a tunnel moving down into the volcano. She hopped inside, and tapped her hand against a wall. "It's this way. That's a dead end."

"What would we do without you?" Sokka asked when he joined them.

"Perish in burning hot lava," Toph said. Sokka had to nod at that. Aang followed the earthbender, knowing she would find her way faster than anybody else. Much went through his mind. What was he going to do when he faced the Fire Lord? And more importantly, how was he going to keep the Fire Lord from retaliating once the eclipse was over? That question haunted him. More so, when he saw that there was blood on Sokka's blade. The Tribesman didn't talk about it. Nobody did. Of course not. Everybody else here was a soldier, either in this life or in Toph's case, both of her past ones. He was a monk. He wasn't supposed to kill people. He refused to. There had to be another way.

The trio ran through the tunnels, hoping to find whatever it was they were looking for. But Aang skidded to a stop when they rounded a corner and found a grey-bearded fellow staring at them alarmed. They all brandished their weapons. Toph's chains _became_ weapons for her to brandish. The grey-bearded fellow immediately rose his hands.

"The Fire Lord's chamber is two pathways ahead, a left, twenty paces to a secret stairwell, down that, second pathway on the right, you can't miss it," he blurted, his eyes wide and his pose fearful. Aang smiled up at him.

"Thanks!" he said. The trio raced forward, leaving the terrified person behind. Sokka reached into his pocket as they reached that 'secret' stairwell. He turned back to Aang, a look of concern on his face. "What is it?" Aang asked.

"The eclipse starts in about two minutes," Sokka said. "Are you ready for this?"

Aang couldn't but nod. "I have to be," he said. The trio followed the directions, and came to a great metal bulb which rested quite intimidating against the stone. Toph just walked toward it like it wasn't there. As she reached it, she thrust her hands out, digging them hard into that metal, and tore them wide. The door was unmade in seconds.

"I am so glad we added you to the group," Sokka noted.

"Damned right you are, Sparky," Toph pointed out. The last turn was ahead. A red, flame-emblazened door blocked the way. "How long?"

"Ten seconds," Sokka said. He took a breath. "Here we go."

* * *

Ty Lee knew she should have been exhausted when she reached the edge of the crater. She'd run all the way to Ashfall, and back, in one afternoon. While the sun above was slowly vanishing, she didn't flag. In fact, she couldn't imagine making the trip any faster than she did. And now, she looked down at Sozin City, at the fire searing toward the creeping forms of the Earth Kingdom tanks. Her heart sank. They were already here. That meant that she was already behind. She had to find everybody. She could run through the streets, but she needed to reach them all fast.

Ty Lee's eyes scanned the sky, sweeping lower until she saw the glint of Appa's armor. Wherever the bison was, the rest couldn't be too far away. She snapped open her glider, and took a flying leap off of the overlook. She knew she wouldn't possibly make it there, but for some reason, the instant she jumped the wind began to blow again, searing away the summer heat and holding her in the sky just a bit longer. A part of her wanted to scream with joy, flying as she always wanted to when she was young. That part was buried, under a tide of fear and apprehension. She had to find them, before it was too late.

She finally ran out of tailwind not far from where she needed to go, snapping her staff closed and rolling when she hit the ground. Firebenders turned toward her, letting flames sear in her direction. She was already a traitor today. Might as well make it official. She dove under their attacks, coming up and striking the first one hard in the stomach, then up the left side of his ribs. He crumpled and fell. The others, more heavily armored, had to be given a basic drubbing. She dealt with two of them quickly; blows to the head weren't tidy, but they had helmets, so they should be fine in a day or so. The last two, though, were blocking her from the greys, blues and greens of her side of the conflict.

She swung her staff hard and wide, seeking to trip up the closer. He was torn from his feet by her blow. Strangely, the one behind him also flew away, smashing into a wall and falling still. Ty Lee didn't think about it, bringing her staff down to put the last one out for a while. Then, she started to run. Since pink wasn't a common color for Fire Nation Military, the soldiers let her through. She skidded to a stop before Katara and her father.

"Where is Aang?" Ty Lee asked.

"What are you doing here?" Katara asked. "You're supposed to be inside, waiting for them!"

"Stuff happened," Ty Lee said. "Where are they?"

"Fighting Ozai, without you," Katara said. Hakoda breathed deep, then spit onto the floor. It was pink.

"They took a direct route into the bunker," Hakoda said. "They entered from the north face of the volcano."

"But that would take hours to get to the..." Ty Lee ran the route in her head. "They're going to the wrong place. They're going to the wrong place!"

The world suddenly turned to night. Bato, the second tallest man Ty Lee had ever seen, crawled atop the Millipede. "Firebenders! Surrender now and you will be treated mercifully!"

From before the tank, a firebender moved forward. "We will _never_ surrender!" he shouted, then thrust forward toward Bato. A sound rather like a fart erupted, and a waft of smoke came out of his hand. He tried again. Nothing. He glanced at his fellows. "Okay, I guess we _will_ surrender!"

"Aang has eight minutes to bring down the Fire Lord," Hakoda said.

Ty Lee pointed at Appa. "I need him to get me to the palace!"

"I..." Katara looked back at her father. She looked away, then back at Ty Lee. "Go. Find them and keep them safe."

"I will, Katara, I promise," Ty Lee said. Then, just for good measure, she gave Katara a rib-rearranging hug before vaulting up onto Appa's stylized helmet with a single bound. "Come on, big buddy! Yip yip!"

* * *

Zuko was losing, and losing badly. Ozai had lost his sense of humor, and began to rain down blows upon the Dark Prince with such intensity and cruelty that the only thing keeping the teenager alive was the gulf in power between them. But all the power in the world could save Zuko forever. So when Ozai hurled another hard pellet of compressed explosion – a trick he would have to remember if he got a chance to – Zuko was blown from his feet and skidded across the floor.

"We both knew this was how it was going to end," Ozai said, looming over Zuko. He thrust his fist forward, and a pittance of flame came out. An undescribable cold began to seep through Zuko's body. The Eclipse had arrived. Zuko smirked. Then, he spun, twisting his legs into a broad arc which swept Ozai off his footing and made him stumble back into a pillar. Zuko moved forward in a fluid movement, drawing his dao and pinning the Fire Lord to that pillar, the tip of his blade just barely touching the skin of Ozai's chest.

"It wasn't about how it was going to end," Zuko said. "I was telling the truth. I _did_ owe you a proper Agni Kai. Congratulations. You won. I don't owe you _anything_ anymore. But now the firebending's turned off, and it's my turn to speak. You're going to listen to the truth, to everything I've _needed_ to say for so long."

"Telling _the truth_ during the eclipse?" Ozai said, amused. He didn't move against Zuko's blades, though. "This should be interesting."

"It wasn't me who killed the Avatar in Ba Sing Se," Zuko said. "Azula took him down."

"She wouldn't lie for you," Ozai said, skeptical.

"Not for me, for her," Zuko said. "Aang is alive. If I know anything about him, he's leading this invasion right now."

"WHAT?" Ozai surged, but Zuko gently pushed him back with a prick of the blade. "Get out of my sight right now you miserable failure!"

"That's another thing. I'm done trying so hard to find your approval, and I'm done taking orders from you," Zuko said. Every word lifted a weight from his shoulders. He thought he might weep as this came, but instead, his eyes were dry, and that rage ramped higher, even with that coldness pressing through his pool of chi. Strangely, it felt different than last time. Like it wasn't quite empty. "All this time, I wanted to go home, to where people _loved_ and _accepted_ me. But I already had that, and I threw it all away! You had me believing that I was hunting for my honor, just so you could instill this unthinking drive to please you! You, the man who called himself my father. The man who banished me for speaking out of turn. The man who challenged a boy not even 14 years old to an Agni Kai!"

"I did that so you would learn _respect_," Ozai said harshly.

"It was cruel and it was wrong!" Zuko shouted back. "I've learned so much during my 'exile', and I learned it on my own. I need to walk a different path than the one everybody always said I had to. And so does this nation. The Fire Nation was supposedly the greatest civilization in history, and this war, our means of sharing it with the world. What a spectacular lie that was! Look at how the rest of the world sees us: They don't respect us, they fear us! They don't thank us, they HATE US! And we deserve it!" Zuko took a breath. "We've created an era of terror in the world. We need to undo a century's worth of damage, and install an era of peace and compassion."

"Compassion, you sound like your mother," Ozai spat. His brow rose. "Your Uncle has finally gotten to you, hasn't he?"

"Iroh has," Zuko said. "When I leave this place, I'm going to free him from his prison cell, and beg him for his forgiveness for all the mistakes I've made since Ba Sing Se."

"Isn't that lovely," Ozai said sarcastically. "Maybe you can make _him_ your real father and he can pass down the ways of tea and failure."

"And once I do that," Zuko powered on, "I'm going to leave this city, and join the Avatar, so that we can bring you down and end this war once and for all."

Ozai didn't look impressed. "Well, since you're a full blown traitor now, and I fully intend to strike your name from our family forever, why wait? You have your swords at my neck? Why not just end my 'horrible rule' right this instant?"

"Because _I have a destiny_," Zuko said, feeling those words sinking into him, into that place he thought so long empty. "My destiny isn't to kill you. If it's anybody's, it's Aang's, not mine," Zuko stepped back, putting his swords away. "You should be ashamed of what you've done to this nation. I know I am."

"What, that's it?" Ozai asked. "You're going to just walk away from me after all that?"

"Watch me," Zuko said, moving toward the smashed-out doors.

"You think you're so brave, but you'll only assuage your honor on a Day of Black Sun. You don't even have the spine to kill me when you had the chance! If you had any courage, you'd wait until the sun returned. Besides... don't you want to know what happened to your mother?"

Zuko stopped, despite himself. Mother. He turned back, and Ozai was grinning.

* * *

Toph's bare footed kick sent the door sailing off its hinges and smashing to the floor inside the room. Aang bounded through, Sokka just behind him, and he leveled his staff before him. "Fire Lord Ozai! Your time has come!"

"I should have known you were still alive. I'm so sorry, but my father couldn't make it," Azula said, sitting at the far end of the room on a throne of gold and iron. She raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying that I'm not worthy of your attentions? That just hurts my feelings."

"Where is the Fire Lord?" Aang demanded. Azula sighed, and rose to her feet.

"Not here."

"Tell us where he is!" Sokka said, brandishing his sword. "You can't firebend right now, so you're helpless."

"And don't even think of lying," Toph added. "I'll know if you do!"

Azula raised a brow again. "Really? I am a fairly good liar. For example, I'm a three hundred foot tall pink moose-lion with eight legs and silver wings."

Everybody turned to Toph. "Well?" Sokka asked.

"I've got no damn idea. She's all over the place," Toph said. Aang stepped toward her.

"You should probably tell us the truth anyway," Aang said, regretting how unintimidating that sounded. When she just smirked, and stepped down from the throne, Aang surged toward her. But a wall of stone rose up, blocking her from view. Toph smashed it down quickly, and Azula's smirk had ratcheted up to a whole new level.

"Bendingless, maybe, but helpless, never," Azula said. "When I left Ba Sing Se, I made sure to bring along some... souvenirs."

Dai Li agents dropped into sight, flattening the rubble Toph had left. Without a word spoken, they began to attack. Five of them, outnumbering the teenagers handily, but the teenagers had two things the Dai Li didn't; the Avatar, and Toph Beifong. Aang deftly smashed their stone gloves out of the air as the rocketed toward him, and when the earthbenders resorted to more conventional attack, he deflected that, too. The other three focused their assaults, and perhaps rightly so, on Toph, trying to smash her with pillars of stone brought out of the cave walls. But Toph was, as she frequently said, the greatest earthbender in the world. She countered their pillars by making them smash into plates she lifted up out of the floor, then smashed back, sending the Agents crashing to the ground.

Aang though couldn't afford to keep tabs on everybody else. He shot forward, smashing one of the Dai Li aside with a blade of air, and the second he simply vaulted over. He set his feet into a low stance when he landed, and launched a column of wind so dense it was almost solid at the Princess. She deftly dodged out of the way, and flipped to her feet as the surge of air smashed the throne to twisted junk. She moved fast. As fast as he remembered. He chased her with an arc of air that slammed into the rock so hard that the rock was cut, but she bounded up the wall and tumbled away. Aang couldn't help but be a little amazed. Ty Lee couldn't have done much better.

Aang turned to follow her, but he felt a stone glove slap onto his wrist. He turned and drove it hard into the floor, cracking it, before popping that hand back up with some earthbending and shattering it against his forehead. Toph's lesson was true; to defeat stone, you had to attack it head on. Still, it stung a bit. Aang turned and raced after Azula, trying to trip her up with stone and air, but every time one of his traps seemed close to working, one of the Dai Li was there, setting her loose. Aang halted, turning, and twisted into an axe kick which smashed a Dai Li's head into the ground. He lay there, unconscious and helpless. Ahead, another was also lying still, although this one in a pool of blood, while the other circled Sokka warily. The last was being wrapped up in the remains of the door by Toph.

He had to move faster. She was going to get away. The last upright Dai Li agent, seeing his mistress fleeing the room, turned from Sokka with a backhand to send the swordsman tumbling back, and brought up a wall between Toph, Aang, and Azula. The wall lasted about as long as a stone wall would against two master earthbenders, crumbling to rubble in an instant. Azula vaulted over Toph's earthbending attack, without even looking at it, and dove out the door. The Dai Li sealed the door shut. Aang reopened it, and Toph bounded through, slamming the Dai Li into the doorframe, before hauling the metal shut around him. Then, with the door blocked, she smashed a hole in the wall next to it.

"I can't pin her down!" Aang shouted. "She's too quick!"

They all reached the hallway outside the chamber, when finally Sokka joined them. He leapt forward, and grabbed both Aang and Toph by the backs of their shirts. "Everybody stop! Stop chasing her!"

"What?" Toph asked, slapping his hand away.

"She's not even trying to win," Sokka said, glaring at the Princess, who stopped, staring back at them. "She's just making us waste time."

* * *

Iroh opened his eyes. The feeling of coldness suffused him, as the path of chi ran short. With the eclipse in place, every firebender in the world would be helpless... except one. Iroh rose, letting his tatters slide to the floor. Poon's eyes went wide when he beheld the physique Iroh had been manufacturing in secret for the last few months.

"What are you...?" Poon asked, but Iroh ignored him. He dropped into a low stance, and pulled up the chi that he had stored inside himself. It wasn't much, not compared to the plentiful and always-replenishing river that usually ran, but for Iroh's purposes, it was more than enough. He felt the chi swell, a sphere before his hand, right between the bars. When it detonated, the bars twisted and warped away. With a deep breath, and a partialy depleted pool of chi, Iroh stepped out of the cage within his cell.

"Stay back or I'll," Warden Poon said, thrusting through a Kata as he said that. Sadly, he had a shallow pool of chi, and his attempts only yielded a tiny belch of smoke. Iroh smiled gently. "Do not much at all..."

"You should have been kinder to your prisoners," Iroh said. "The greatest indicator of the worth of a society is in how they care for those they incarcerate."

"What?" Poon asked. Iroh answered by punching Poon very hard in the gut, followed by smashing his head back into a wall. Poon was swiftly rendered insensate. Iroh took a moment to pilfer Poon's hair tie, to pull the long grey hair out of Iroh's face and into a more dignified top-knot. Long past were the days he could pull off a phoenix tail. Then, his attire more or less sorted, he pulled out the keys the acrobat gave him, and moved out into the prison.

He knew the path he had to walk, and it wasn't toward the exit. Not yet. He moved with alacrity and stamina now validated by his muscular build, running up the corridors. A guard spotted him, and gave a cry of alarm. Iroh didn't even slow, simply leaping up and kneeing the man in the face without slowing in his stride. He had to be swift, decisive, and bold. Luckily, Iroh had a history of being all three. Iroh burst through the door into a guard's barracks. Three guards, all firebenders, stared at him.

"General Iroh is escaping!" the female guard shouted in fear. Iroh grabbed a chair and smashed it over one guard's head. The woman grabbed a spear from the wall and tried to stab Iroh with it, but he pulled it from her fumbling grasp and smashed it across the other's face, before using the haft to sweep the woman off of her feet and chase her down with a brutal punch into her stomach, the pool of chi. If done correctly, a stiff fingered strike to the pool of chi could be as debilitating as a Dim Mak strike. She rolled on the floor, in obvious misery. She wouldn't be able to firebend until tomorrow, eclipse or no eclipse.

Iroh moved onward, and came to a halt as the hallway before him was filled with armed guards. Some of them were firebenders, holding spears awkwardly. A lot of them weren't. Iroh took a moment to smooth his beard before them. "Anybody who wishes to leave now, may," Iroh offered. Nervous glances were exchanged, but one at the front, a bit bolder than the others, rushed forward with a sword.

Iroh began to flow, as he saw the warriors of the North Water Tribes do so many years ago. There was a reason why the Fire Nation never had a truly successful military campaign against the Tribesmen; they didn't fight like the Fire Nation did. They used the strength of the enemy against their enemy. And now, Iroh did the same. Like a wave, he flowed around the guards, his fists striking them where they were weakest. At first, it seemed like he would be swept away in the tide of humanity, but as he pressed forward, people falling behind him with their painful but non-lethal wounds, that tide changed. They no longer fought Iroh with an intention to subdue or even kill. They fought back feebly, offering only symbolic resistance. They were afraid. When Iroh reached the far side of the hall, the guards were either unconscious, hiding, or in full flight.

Iroh touched his fingers to his lips, noting the slight hint of redness on his fingertips. A few lucky blows got in, but he was otherwise unscathed. He reached into his only pocket, pulling out a small, round game-piece. A Pai Sho tile, the white lotus. It had always been his favorite tile, not just because the artistry of the white flower was superb, or even because it played into so many of his strategies. He loved the white lotus because it represented what a war so frequently lacked; a thinking man. He composed the message he would have to send from the warden's office as he approached it, and mentally scrambled it into its cypher. When he arrived, all he would have to do is put brush to paper and write it. He opened Poon's door, and saw four more guards staring at him, clutching their weapons, waiting.

"I don't suppose any of you would be willing to talk about this over tea?" Iroh asked. But on his face was a superior smile. He clenched his fists. Their eyes went down to his hands then up to him. This would be over quickly.

* * *

"What do you mean, I'm not trying to win?" Azula asked, her hand on her hip. "I swear, I'm giving you my all."

"You're just wasting our time?" Toph shouted.

"Um, right. Your friend the barbarian just said that. How could you ever have come so far with _him_ as your strategist? And since you're blind, I feel I should tell you I'm rolling my eyes."

"I'LL ROLL YOUR WHOLE HEAD!" Toph roared.

"Don't let her bait you," Sokka said calmly. "She's just trying to make us screw up somehow and give her the advantage. Just leave her. She's just standing in our way, and it's not like she can fight back."

"Very good," Azula said. "When did you figure that out? Just now?"

"When I walked into that room and saw you sitting alone," Sokka said honestly. Toph turned to him.

"Really? And you didn't feel like informing the rest of us?" Toph asked.

"I thought there was a chance we could capture her. You know, since she was alone in a dead-end room," Sokka said. Azula turned to him and smiled. "What?"

"So, you're not quite as dense as I thought you were. I must say, I am surprised. Imagine what you and I could have achieved together; your habit for the insane and unpredictable, my ruthlessness and brilliance," She smiled, low and smoky. "And imagine how our beautiful our children would be?"

Sokka leaned back, a bit uncomfortable. "Yeah, that doesn't interest me. Like, _at all_. Come on guys. Ignore-the-crazy-princess time!"

As Sokka was walking toward Azula, because she'd stopped at an intersection and getting away meant moving past her, she started to smirk at him. "Oh, Sokka. If only you'd been here yesterday. I had a nice little conversation with that woman of yours," she said. Sokka's eyes flared and burned at her. "I don't know what she saw in you. But then again, she was so convinced that you were going to show up and rescue her. But in the end, she gave up hope. What can I say? You always were a remarkable failure."

Sokka felt his breath catching, his knuckles tightening around his Space Sword, but at the far end of the chamber, a form in pink silks came into sight far at the end of a hall. She was doing it again! Trying to play him like a pipa! Sokka took a calming breath, then hurled Space Sword at Azula, embedding it just beside her face in the iron corner. Azula finally gave an expression he wanted to see from her; shock. Sokka strode up to her, and Toph thrust her hands out. The stone leapt out of the wall and dragged her hand back into it. Azula was clutching a knife. Good feet, Toph.

"Everybody I love is either dead, or fighting at my side," Sokka said, grasping his blade. "You have nothing that I want."

Azula stared at him for a moment, then down at the floor. Several strands of her bangs had been snipped by his sword. She glared at him. "It couldn't hurt to try," she said. She turned to Aang. "You might be able to shoot flame from your hands, Avatar, but you're no firebender. Do you know what the pool of chi is?"

"What's...?"

"It's the store of energy that we get from Agni himself," Azula said. "The eclipse prevents new energy from filling it, but it doesn't stop us from using what's already there."

"Guys," Sokka said, backing away, but Azula was already bending, a blast of energy smashing the stone away from her hands. She wreathed her hands in fire and began to swing and twirl at the three teenagers. Even with limited fuel, it was still a hard task to avoid her attacks. Sokka couldn't get a hit in, and Aang found his attacks avoided. But the teenagers had help coming. Ty Lee raced along the hall, her staff swinging toward the Princess. Azula noticed their attention diverting behind her just in time to turn, but when she did, she hesitated, and the swing of Ty Lee's staff drove her flying backward, even though it didn't actually hit her, skidding to a stop behind the teenagers. When she got back up, her hair had come undone, and she had the most baffled expression on her face that Sokka had ever seen.

"Don't hurt my friends!" Ty Lee shouted, leveling her staff at Azula.

* * *

"What happened to my mother?" Zuko asked. Ozai smirked, picking up his personal armor. It still smoked, but was intact. The Fire Lord could have nothing less, it seemed. Zuko's own armor was ashes on the floor. Just as well, he'd had no intention of ever wearing it again, anyway.

"My father, Fire Lord Azulon, decided that my intention to strip Iroh's birthright was an affront to Lu Ten's memory and Iroh's honor. So he demanded that if I were to have that power, I must know my brother's pain. He told me to kill you. And I would have," that didn't surprise Zuko at all, especially with what he'd learned. "But your mother found out about Azulon's order, and she came up with a plan. A plan that would preserve your life and make me Fire Lord."

Zuko highly doubted that Ursa had come up with that plan. She would have fought for him, but that sort of Machiavellian scheming simply wasn't in her character. Ozai continued. "Your mother did vile, treasonous things that night. In the morning, Azulon was found dead, and I was named Fire Lord. And for her crime, I had her banished from the Fire Nation forever."

"You're saying that my mother is alive?" Zuko asked, his suspicion held for _anything_ Ozai said washed away by the overwhelming joy of knowing that Ursa was still out there somewhere. He turned, lost in his own thoughts.

"Perhaps," Ozai said. "But _her_ penalty was far too lax. The cost of your treason will be far steeper."

Zuko turned to face his father, and his eyes widened. He could feel the warmth flowing back into him. The eclipse was over. And Ozai had his spiel planned to the instant. His arms tore through the air, snapping blue lightning following his fingertips. He surged forward, and the lightning filled the room, tearing toward Zuko. Zuko reacted out of pure instinct, driven by the lessons Iroh had taught him. He felt the energy flow.

He extended one hand, and the energy moved from his fingertips, up his arm. He breathed out, and felt the huge, unbelievable force moving downward, into his stomach. In an instant, Zuko went from almost depleted to full beyond bursting. It was exhilarating. But at the same time, he knew that the slightest mistake would tear his body apart. He breathed in, the force still driving Zuko back on his feet, and felt that energy surge up his other arm, then down into his fingertips. One lightning bolt ended, and another was released, Ozai's own lightning, turned back on him. It slammed into the ground at Ozai's feet, sending him flying into the back wall.

Zuko saw an expression unlike he had ever seen on Ozai's face. Utter shock. With one last glare, between a man with the gall to call himself father, and the boy with the clarity to no longer call himself son, Zuko departed, and began to run.

Zuko ran up through the bunker, letting everything flow past him. He didn't have time for any distractions. He'd made his promise, and now he had to act on it before it was too late. He burst up out of the bunker and onto the palace grounds. Nearby, he could hear the fighting in earnest, firebenders realizing their power had returned. No time. He ran, away from the crater and toward Ashfall prison. He had to get there in time. He raced across the blasted volcanic plains, only the masterful breath-control Iroh had taught him keeping him upright. He pulled the doors to the prison open. Inside, people were huddling in fear, or else unconscious on the floor. Zuko didn't have time to think about those things.

"Iroh!" Zuko said, pulling open the door to the man's cell. "I'm here to..."

Iroh wasn't here. The cage inside his cell had been torn apart from the inside. Warden Poon was lying, his eyes bleary and unsteady, near the door. Zuko grabbed the Warden and hauled Poon's face to his.

"Where is he?" Zuko demanded. "Where is Iroh?"

"He busted himself out," Poon said, fear obvious in his voice. "He was like a one-man army..."

Zuko let Poon fall to the ground, and a roar of stifled rage came to his throat. Then, he calmed himself. Iroh was safe. He was free. Just because Zuko wasn't the one to do it didn't invalidate what he'd intended. And Zuko intended more than just this. He would need to move again, and move fast. There was very little time. He didn't doubt that Ozai was already moving to declare Zuko a bastard and a traitor. Zuko had a destiny. It was time he saw where it would take him.

* * *

Ty Lee stared at Azula as the Princess pushed herself up to her knees. "Azula, don't hurt my friends!" she shouted.

"What are you doing?" Azula asked, her eyes wide.

"Please, listen to me," Ty Lee said. "I know you're hurting. I don't know why but you're in so much pain, and you have so much fear. I don't know what you're afraid of but I can promise you, you don't need to be afraid of it anymore."

"I'm not afraid of anything," Azula said, but her tones weren't snapping and her eyes were still wide. "Ty Lee... what are you doing?"

"I'm fighting for this world," Ty Lee said. "And I know you can help us. Please, look inside your heart. I know that my best friend is still in there! You want to be able to sleep again, to not have those dreams. Please, Azula! Come with us!"

"What... are you doing?" Azula asked again, her voice quivering. It was like Azula's mind was utterly rejecting the notion that Ty Lee would _ever_ stand against her.

"Take her with us? Are you nuts?" Toph asked.

"Azula, I know that you have so much good in you," Ty Lee said, her eyes beginning to brim with tears. "I saw it on Ember Island, when you couldn't hurt me even if you wanted to. And when we slept together last night..."

"Wait, what?" Sokka asked.

"You were just like you used to be," Ty Lee continued, ignoring her boyfriend. "I don't want you to be in pain anymore, Azula. You deserve so much better. And you can have it, if you come with us. I'm begging you. Save yourself from whatever it is that your father is doing to you."

"My father loves me," Azula said, her eyes wide, her voice small.

"No, I don't think he does," Ty Lee said. She finally reached Azula, helping her to her feet. Azula stood unsteadily, staring at Ty Lee with an incomprehensible expression. Her aura was blasting through every color in the rainbow. "I don't think he even can."

"But... Ty Lee... what are you doing with _them_?" Azula asked, her voice almost an indignant screech.

"We're the _bad guys_, Azula. You and me and your father," Ty Lee said. "We need to find another way. I did. You can too!"

Azula looked beyond her, to the others standing shoulder to shoulder. United. Together. Azula looked down at herself. She stood alone. Ty Lee cupped Azula's cheek with her hand. Azula's head shuddered. Like she was weeping. Oh, poor Azula. What had Ozai done to this beautiful young woman? When Azula looked back up, Ty Lee got her answer.

"oh no..." Ty Lee said quietly.

Azula's eyes weren't full of tears. They were full of wrath. Ty Lee bounded away as an inarticulate roar of rage sounded from Azula, and a wave of fire, bright electric blue surged away from her. When Ty Lee landed, Aang had to quickly smash a gust of wind to put out her smoldering pants. Toph raised a wall, and smashed it into the Princess, who thrashed and shouted profane and hurtful things from inside that prison.

Toph said, a smirk on her face. "Heh. Princess, you need to get laid. Soon, and badly."

"Toph!" Aang snapped, but Toph shrugged.

"We need to get out of here," Sokka said, looking at his timer. "The eclipse is over. Azula had every move planned for us, probably almost a year in advance. Come on!."

"But I'm here," Aang said. "I'm ready. I can still take out the Fire Lord!"

"I don't think so," Ty Lee said. She glanced back to where Azula was frantically trying to get out of her stone prison. What had Ozai done to her? Where had her friend gone? "They knew about this plan since you brought it to the Earth King. We didn't have the element of surprise. He's got hundreds of guards down here, and there's no way we'll be able to fight them all. What we need to do now is protect the ones we care about."

Aang hung his head, and then nodded. "You're right."

"We'll have another chance," Sokka said. "I know you will."

The gang began to flee the bunker, but Ty Lee looked back, one more time, at Azula. "I'm so sorry," she said. "But this is something I have to do."

"You're a traitor!" Azula roared. "I should have killed you as you slept!"

"I know you're still in there somewhere, Azula. Some part of you is still that girl I loved. I'll find some way to save you. I promise," Ty Lee said. Azula answered her by blasting a wave of fire at Ty Lee from her mouth. Ty Lee spun her staff, and the flame was snuffed before it could reach her. Then, she bolted out of the bunker, to where the others fled. She caught up to them as Toph was making a direct route out of the volcano and the bunker proper. Nobody spoke as they moved up into the light. Nobody had to. They all thought the same thing.

* * *

Katara finally moved away from her father. She was exhausted, but he was finally healed enough that he would survive without her. In fact, he would probably be fine in a few days. The same couldn't be said for a lot of the people nearby. "The eclipse is over," she said. "Shouldn't we have gotten some sign by now?"

"I have no idea," Bato said. "But the firebenders are going to be wising up any minute now, and this time they've got us completely surrounded. Katara looked to the palace, and a dark spot occluded her vision. Appa! The bison descended and landed hard on the ground, up near the lip of the crater where the invasion had stalled. Aang stared down at her. She felt her stomach fall into her feet.

"It was all a trap," Sokka said, bounding down. "Azula had everything ready for us."

"I can't believe what he did to her," Ty Lee said quietly, hugging her staff like it were a doll. "She almost came with us. I could feel it. She _wanted_ to."

"What?" Sokka asked. He shook his head. "Look, if we can make it to the subs before the Fire Nation cuts us off completely, we can make our escape."

"I don't think that's going to be possible," Katara said, pointing to the west. Hovering above the crater, red against the sky, were dozens of war balloons. Teo, who had been forced to crawl after the Millipede he was piloting was smashed to bits, let out a groan.

"No! Dad's invention!" he said. The Mechanist shook his head with dismay. But Katara's eyes went wider, as something she hadn't seen before loomed. Even larger, by a wide margin, something dull and far more threatening rose above the lip of the crater. Airships, each so much larger than the war balloons that the red forms looked like toys, pressing over the city, toward the army.

"Should we do something?" Katara asked. Aang stared up at the sky, his expression hopelessly angry, but he turned back. Tears of frustration were in his eyes.

"There's just too many of them," he said. Sokka pointed up as the airships neared.

"Guys, I think we're about to see some bombs!"

The earthbenders worked together, erecting a dome over the army as the bomb bays opened and hundred of explosive devices rained from the sky. The stone above their heads rattled and cracked, grit and dust raining down, but the dome held, and Top let a part of it slide away. Sokka looked up. The airships were continuing east.

"Why aren't they looping back around and attacking us again?" Katara asked.

"Because they're going for the subs," Sokka said quietly.

* * *

Hue had been a waterbender since he was a child, it was practically born in him. He'd been shipped to Misty Swamp so young that he couldn't even remember what his parents looked like. But he was always willing to do what he had to to protect his people.

"Hey, Hue, what are those things?" Tho said, pointing up toward the sky. Hue turned, letting the seaweed slip away. Above, machines floated in the air. "Some sort of Fire Nation exploding trap?"

"They're airships," Du said. "The Empress was right. The Fire Nation now owns the sky."

"Get everybody out," Hue said. The other waterbenders turned to him.

"We're not leaving a man behind, Hue," Tho said.

"This isn't a request," Hue said. "It's an order by your leader. Get everybody onto a sub and get them out of here!"

Tho and Du nodded, and began shouting orders to the other Whalesh waterbenders who remained at the shores. They quickly piled into the centermost of the subs, and it began to slip back into the water. Hue got a smile on his face. He always knew that he would go down fighting. It was a destiny he had prepared for his entire life. As the airships hovered overhead, he began his attack.

He knew he wouldn't succeed. He had seaweed and water. They had bombs. But he would show them what Great Whales was; not just a degenerate chain of islands which hadn't played host to an Avatar in a millennium. He smashed the bombs away from the only sub that really mattered, as it turned and vanished into the water. The others were blasted to bits. Then, he began to not bat them away, but catch them. Dozens of bombs, stuck inside his green and sopping limbs. Then, he surged that limb upward, tearing the entire seaweed body to do it, sending it up into the sky.

He was alone, standing on foreign soil. His protection was gone, but when the seaweed finally came apart, it was easily close enough. The bombs smashed into the belly of the airship which dropped them, detonating in a massive explosion. The airship listed, and drifted slowly toward the ground outside the city. And Hue smiled. He stared up, watching as one last bomb, one which hadn't detonated above, fell down from the heavens. In the last instant before it landed at his feet, he smiled. It was good to be Whalesh today.

* * *

"That's it, then," Sokka said, looking down at the beachhead below. "The subs are gone."

"Then we stand and fight," Bato said. "We have the Avatar, we could still win."

"No," Hakoda said, shaking his head. "With the Avatar, we could still win, but on another day. _This_ wasn't our day. Sokka, Katara, you have to escape on Appa."

"No!" Katara said. "I'm not going to leave you behind again."

"It'll be alright," Hakoda said, as she moved to him and gave him a tight hug. "You're our only chance of surviving this war. And I'm not going to lose you, Katara," he looked at Aang. "You must get them and the youngest people out of here, take them somewhere safe."

"We'll be imprisoned," Tyro said, giving his son Haru one more pat on the back. "But we'll be alive. I have some experience with Fire Nation prisons."

"Dad," Haru said, but Tyro just shook his head.

"I'm going to miss you, Dad," Teo said, giving the Mechanist a hug from the ground. Toph bent a stone pillar, lifting him up into the saddle. When she got him there, she gave him a reassuring hug of her own.

"I've never been so proud of you, Son," The Mechanist said, his eyes filling with tears.

"Katara," Hakoda said. She turned to him. "Keep Aang safe. And Aang?" he moved to Appa's face and stared up at the Avatar. "Don't let anything happen to my daughter. Anything."

Aang nodded to Hakoda, then stood behind that stylized helmet upon Appa's brow. "Thank you. Thank you all for standing beside me today," Aang said. "I wish I was worthy of your bravery and strength. I will make this up to you. I swear as Avatar, this defeat will not go unavenged!"

Aang reached down, helping Katara up into the saddle. Beside her, she could see Pipsqueak pushing The Duke up.

"I'm going to miss you, Pipsqueak," The Duke said.

"I'll miss you too," Pipsqueak answered. Haru just stared down at his father. Tyro gave a slow, solemn nod. Then, Appa was given those fateful words, and the sky bison took off, flying away from Sozin City.

"What are we going to do now?" Ty Lee asked, still huddled around her staff.

"We're going to the last place I can think that might still be safe," Aang said grimly. "The Western Air Temple."

Katara looked back at the saddle. Sokka was pulling Ty Lee close, his eyes downcast. Haru was trying to comfort The Duke. Even Toph and Teo were staying close, trying to find some warmth against the dying of the eclipse. Katara pulled close to Aang, and gave him a quiet, but desperate embrace. He tucked an arm around her, and didn't say a word as they flew toward the setting of the sun.

Behind them, unnoticed by anybody, a single red balloon took to the sky. Heading west.

* * *

King Bumi ran fingers down his long sprig of beard. He always wanted to have a full, proper East Continent beard, but when it first grew in, it was patchy and it just didn't look good at all. Of course, that was a century ago. But he kept the style all this time. He knew all he had to do was wait for the proper moment. It could have been last summer, but he hadn't been sure, and he wouldn't have had enough time anyway. This time, he knew what an eclipse did to firebenders, and he was prepared for it. He didn't like the way Ozai was staring at him. The Fire Lord glared down as though Bumi owed him money.

"What are you going to do to us?" the governor asked, fear in his voice. Bumi ignored him. Bumi was old. A hundred and sixteen this year. But his body was covered all over in slabs of muscle which even two years in practically stationary confinement couldn't atrophy. It served him well, because if they had, then he wouldn't have been able to single-handedly retake Omashu, _his city_, in the eight minutes the eclipse gave him. Well, he only needed six minutes and fourty two seconds, but the other minute gave him time to show off. No, he did not like the way Ozai was looking at him.

"King Bumi, what should we do with the leadership?" Gong, a soldier, who used to be a sandwich maker of great repute, asked. Bumi scowled. Then, he snapped his fingers.

"I know just the thing!" Bumi said, his voice as reedy and cracky as his face: very. He reached back, bending hard, and hurled a great column of stone through the air. It landed with a terrific crash against Ozai's head; the head snapped off and rolled down the back of his more-or-less abandoned city. There. That would do it. Now, Ozai wasn't staring at him anymore. Bumi let out manic, snorting laughter.

"King Bumi?" Gong asked.

"I'll clean up the rest later," Bumi said. He turned, and towered over the governor and his wife, who cowered on the floor. Bumi ran fingers down his sprig of beard. "Now as for you..."

A three year old boy stared up at him, not afraid, just of insatiable curiosity. Bumi always loved children. They were some of the only people that he could have a real, meaningful conversation with. Everybody else was 'that makes no sense', or 'you have to be practical', or 'what purpose could that possibly have', but a child? They were unbridled imagination. What was he doing? Oh, right. They'd taken over his city.

"Please, spare our son," the woman said. She had very bright grey eyes. Bumi could see how people would say what they did about Azuli women. But then again, they also said, given a choice between mugging a hulking Tribesman and a six year old Azuli girl, always choose the Tribesman; with the Tribesman, you might get stabbed. With the Azuli, it wasn't a question of if, but rather where, and how many times.

"Oh, in this city, everybody who takes part in a crime must suffer the consequences together," Bumi said. "I have it!" he raised a finger. "You will all be taken an thrown... A FEAST!"

Everybody looked on silently. Even Gong. "A feast, King Bumi?"

"Surely we still have some food to eat," Bumi said. "But until it's prepared, take them to the refurbished chamber which used to be the bad chamber."

"King Bumi, they've turned that into a torture chamber," Gong said.

"Then take them into the old room which used to be the good room, but was surpassed when the bad chamber was refurbished but then turned into a torture chamber and make sure they don't cause any trouble," Bumi said. Gong took a moment to move through Bumi's... unique syntax and then nodded, taking the family away. The child waved back at Bumi as he left.

"Thanks for not killing us!" he said.

"Make sure you wear your best to the feast!" Bumi said back. He looked back up at the statue of Ozai, which until a few minutes ago, glared down at the city. New Ozai? What an unimaginable bore of a name. The city of Omashu had existed, in one form or another, for tens of thousands of years. One Fire Lord wasn't about to undo all of that. Bumi smiled to himself, stretching out kinks a year in the making, and began to wander back into his palace. He needed to find his cape. He couldn't be a proper king without a cape!

* * *

**Remember how at the end of Avatar Aang that I said the intention was never to have Zuko _almost _defect, but someone else only to have it come crashing down? Poor Azula...**

_Leave a review._


	12. The Western Air Temple

**Tell me you didn't see _this _coming.**

**When writing for Zuko's ramble, I literally put down the first thing which came to my mind as I went, and didn't hit the backspace key for anything but spelling mistakes, making it up as I went along. And it occurs to me that I'm making Ozai an utter bastard. Trust me, as horrible as he is here, just wait until how he acts during Sozin's Comet. **

* * *

"Look, we don't have any money for this," Ty Lee said quietly, staring down at the small bundle of food. "I mean... If there's anything I can do to make this up to you..."

The farmer shook his head, his bright grey eyes peering into the darkness. "You need it a lot more than we do. Besides, we're not like the Embiar," he said. "We don't turn away people at our gates because they have a different eye color."

"Thank you," Ty Lee said, as she turned away.

"Good luck bringing down the Fire Lord, young Baihu," the farmer said behind her. Ty Lee tensed, and when she looked back, the farmer was just waving politely, but smiling sadly. Ty Lee could see from his aura that he wasn't angry or suspicious or anything. He meant what he'd again, they were in Azul, now. Ozai was not popular here at all. But why was he sad?

She quickly moved with her pittance of food back to where the others were advancing across the sun-baked soil. The summer was high; in the spring, the entire valley was thriving with grasses and flowers, but when the hard summer heat bore down, they dried out and burned. Here, in Azul, it was so iron rich that even the dirt was red. Some springs, when the rivers overflowed, it was said that they flowed the color of blood. And it made for the best potatoes in the world. Not that she had much to show for it.

"Did you get anything?" Sokka asked. She sighed, handing over what generosity had given her. It might be enough for a stew. He made decent stews. Sokka sighed.

"This is humiliating," Katara said.

"What's humiliating?" Toph asked. Since Teo lost his wheelchair, she was carrying him on her back. It was an odd look that the petite girl was carrying about the gangly, legless youth. It didn't seem to slow Toph down in the slightest, though. "The fact that we just got our asses kicked in Sozin City, or the fact that we're walking to the Western Air Temple?"

"I can feel blisters forming on my feet," Sokka whined.

"Try going barefoot. It makes a world of difference," Toph pointed out.

"Appa gets tired carrying so much weight," Aang said. He sounded just as tired as everybody else. "Don't you, buddy?"

Teo sighed against Toph's head. She blushed a bit as he spoke. "I wonder where Dad is?"

"Probably on their way to a prison somewhere," Haru said. "Gods, it's like Dad just got out, and now they've taken him away from me again."

"I miss Pipsqueak," The Duke whispered. Toph came to a stop, staring toward a precipice. She took a few steps toward the abyss, then broke out into a grin.

"Hey, Aang. We're here!"

Ty Lee looked over the edge. "I don't see anything."

"I can see it with my own two feet," Toph said, lowering Teo to the ground.

"Your feet might need their eyes checked," Katara said. Aang was shaking his head, though.

"I thought it was a few more miles that way. Toph's right. We're here!" he did a little victory dance. Ty Lee stared at him for a moment, then shrugged and joined him. It felt good to dance. Everybody else just stared at them like they'd gone insane, except for Toph, who was running a scarred hand along the turf.

"This is amazing," Toph said. "I don't know how to describe what I'm seeing."

"Other Air Temples thrust up into the heavens," Aang said. "But the Western Air Temple takes another philosophy. It hangs in the eternal breeze of the Lan Se canyon. The rest of the world builds up, but in the West, they built down."

Ty Lee's face lit up in a grin, and she took a flying leap toward the cliff. Everybody gave a shout of shock, but as she bounded over the precipice, she snapped open her glider, and she began to spin down. Toph was right. It was _amazing_! Hanging from the bottom of the cliffs were dozens of structures, hanging like stalactites, but cultivated and carved into the forms of inverted pagodas. The wind carried her as she swooped around the structure, looking at the copper roofs, long gone green, facing downward against all common sense. Just when the world seemed bleakest, a touch of absurdity lifted her spirits.

She pulled upward, halting her forward momentum, and snapped her glider shut, landing with a roll on a platform, in front of three statues of Air Nomad women. She looked up at them, a low whistle of reverence coming from her lips. After a few seconds, she heard another snap, and Aang was landing beside her. "Who were these women?" she asked before he could get a word out.

"They're the nuns who ran this temple," Aang said, seemingly hurried. "Ty Lee, how did you..."

"This place was run by women! Awesome!" Ty Lee pointed at a fresco which was beginning to crumble but still showed rows of sky bison. "What about this? Why are these bison all over the place?"

"Because this is where most of the competitive racing bison were bred back when I was a kid," Aang said. "Ty Lee, you just flew a..."

"Everything's upside down. I bet it would be pretty dangerous to wander around at night."

"There used to be railings, but they must have rotted away," Aang said. "Where did you get that..."

"Wow, it must be really sad to see it like this," Ty Lee said, her smile dimming.

"Please, let me finish a question!" Aang said loudly. She stopped and stared at him. It took him a moment to realize she'd already stopped talking. He looked a bit embarrassed. "Right. Um... why do you have a glider?"

"I had Piandao make it for me," Ty Lee said. "Flying around Burning Rock was so much fun I had to do it again, and I didn't want to have to keep borrowing yours."

Aang looked a little confused. "You didn't _glide_ here. You couldn't have from where you jumped," he said. "And when Azula tried to kill you, you used an airbender's block."

"I've seen you use it lots of times," Ty Lee said.

"That's not the point," Aang said. "You shouldn't be able to use it at all!"

"Why not?"

"Because you're not an airbender!" he said. And then he stopped. "Aren't you?"

"I don't know," Ty Lee said. "Am I?"

"Guys, was there any pressing reason why you left us all behind?" Sokka asked, as Appa swooped down into sight. Aang looked to Ty Lee.

"You and I are going to have to have a long talk."

* * *

"Man, this place is nothing like the Northern Air Temple," Teo commented as he fitted a wheel onto his new, albeit very makeshift wheelchair. "I wonder if there's any secret rooms for us to find?"

"A vanished temple, rife with mysteries and sitting here, waiting to be explored?" Haru asked. "Count me in!"

"I'm coming to!" the Duke exclaimed, and for a moment, it looked like Aang was going to join them, but Katara cut him off.

"What's the big idea?" Aang complained.

"Come on," she said. "We need to discuss what we're going to do next, and since you're the Avatar, you should probably be there."

Ty Lee glanced back to Aang and the rest before shrugging.

"Well, if he can't go, there's nothing saying I can't!" and she bounded away. Katara simply didn't know where that young woman got her energy. The 'fearsome foursome', as Sokka had so unsuccessfully dubbed them back in Ba Sing Se, moved to what would have been a fountain were it upright. Instead, it was a waterfall and a pool, fresh water streaming down from above. Aang sat, looking a bit shiftless.

"Alright, I'm here," Aang said, tugging at his robes. "So what's our new plan?"

Sokka pondered for a moment, then got a smirk. "As I see it, the new plan, is the old plan! All you need to do is master the four elements and defeat the Fire Lord by the end of summer!"

"Yeah, that's a great plan," Aang said sarcastically. He grabbed a stone and skipped it across the pond. "And next, I'll go into the spirit world and hunt for the lost lion-turtles of ancient lore."

"Aang, nobody said this was going to be easy," Katara said.

"It's not even going to be possible!" Aang shouted. "I mean, where am I ever going to find a firebending master?"

"We could contact Jee?" Katara prompted.

"You're missing the operative word here, Katara. 'Master'," Aang shook his head. "Jee's just a soldier. He doesn't know what I need. I don't need just the Katas, I need the psychology, the philosophy, and the soul of firebending. The tricks I know just aren't enough! I need somebody who really knows what he's doing!"

"And where are we going to find somebody like that, who'd be willing to help us?" Sokka asked, rubbing his chin.

"There's the problem," Aang admitted. His eyes took on a bit of a wild shine. "So I guess there's no point worrying about this. Come on! Let's take a tour of the Air Temple!"

"Aang, I wasn't..." Katara said, but he was already bounding away, and leaping off the edge of the cliff, his glider bearing him away. Katara shook her head as he flew.

"What's up with him?" Toph asked, the first words she'd put into the meeting.

"He's just a little stressed," Sokka said. "He'll work it out. But he was right. I might need to have a talk with Ty Lee. Maybe she knows somebody out there who is both willing, and able, to teach firebending."

* * *

Zuko raised his hand passively. "Hello. Zuko here," he paused. "Although, I guess you'd already know that... So I guess there isn't much point in me introducing myself. Kinda redundant at this point. Uh, look, I have a lot of... What was I going to say? Right. I have a lot of experience firebending, and I'm considered pretty good at it... Pretty good. That's selling yourself, Zuko."

Zuko took a deep breath. "Well, you know I'm pretty good. From all the times... that I attacked you. Oh, crap. Uh, yeah, I should probably apologize for that. But I'm good now!" Zuko hesitated. "I mean, I'm not bad anymore... Right. That does sound as stupid coming out of my mouth as it did in my head. I mean, I thought I was good before, but it turns out I just wasn't ready. I had to learn so much before... yeah, you wouldn't care about all that, would you?"

Zuko slumped down, sitting on the floor. "Anyway. I think it's time that I joined your group?" he said, his voice slowing down with each passing word, and becoming less confident. Before him, a brown and white lemur stared at him. It wasn't the Avatar's; this one seemed younger and had eyes and fur of a slightly different color. It chattered at him then flapped away, leaving Zuko alone in his isolated room. Zuko scratched at his beard. "Yeah. I wouldn't believe that story either."

Zuko moved and lowered himself onto a cot nearby. "How am I going to convince these people that I'm on their side?" He swung his legs over the edge of the bed. "What would Iroh do?"

Zuko stood, pacing to and fro. "Zuko, you must find yourself in order to safe yourself from your other self," Zuko said, mimicking Iroh's gravely tones. "Only then will your true self reveal itself... What the hell was that? Even when I'm talking for him I don't know what he's talking about," He ran fingers through his shaggy hair. "What would Azula say?" he pulled himself into an arrogant posture, and parroted her singsong tones. "Look, Avatar. Either you accept me into your little group, or I do something unspeakably horrible to those you care about. And just so you know I'm not playing games, I've already kidnapped your lemur. So make your choice..."

Zuko sat back on the cot. "Wow. My sister's crazy. And I'm _bad_ at impressions. Maybe Ty Lee..." he considered, but realized that there was no way he'd be able to pull her off, and anything she said would be about auras and shiny things and happiness, so out of character that he could barely even consider it. "Or not. Mai?" Zuko stood again, tucking his hands together as though concealing them in sleeves. With a tone of unmitigated boredom, he spoke "Alright, Avatar, I'm going to join you in your little quest against the Fire Lord, whether you want it or not. Now shut up and let me help you."

Zuko rubbed his beard. "Hey, that's not half bad," he turned and instantly flattened against the floor as he saw something swoop by the window. For an instant, he thought Aang had located him, but the giddy laughter coming from that soaring figure was distinctly feminine. He quickly peeked out the window. Whoever she was, she was already quite a ways away, with her red and shining steel glider. Another airbender? How could that be possible? Aang was supposed to be the _last_ airbender!

Zuko sat against the wall, trying to think. He couldn't have missed an airbender the last time he came to the Western Air Temple, a few days before he turned fourteen. He hadn't yet been banished from the entirety of the Fire Nation, and even though his burns were still fresh, he was determined to find the Avatar. The child in him thought the Air Temples were the perfect place to start looking. But what if he had missed something? What if it was more than his hunch and years of tracking experience that brought him here? Zuko had a destiny. Maybe now that he was following it again, the universe was beginning to provide? It was a heartening thought. But Zuko had an offer to make, even before he started tracking down other airbenders. He rose, dusting off his pants, and gathered his courage and his wits. He desperately needed not to screw this up.

* * *

Aang finally caught up to her on the uppermost, which was technically the bottommost level of the most westerly pagoda. She was leaning against a wall, grinning brightly if a little tiredly. He snapped his glider closed as he landed next to her. "Wow. That was a lot of fun! There's no shortage of wind down here to glide on!" she said.

"Ty Lee," Aang made a comforting gesture, and motioned for the girl to sit. She looked confused, but did. "There's something I need to tell you, and I don't know how else to say it, but..."

"You think I'm an airbender, don't you?" she asked simply. Aang stared at her a moment, then nodded.

"Ty Lee, you don't understand. I didn't think there'd ever _be_ airbenders again," Aang said, sliding his back down the wall behind him. "I thought I was the very last of my kind. At least, until recently."

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"When I saw you in Si Wong, I was too angry and upset to think straight," Aang admitted. "If I had been paying better attention, I probably would have noticed it then. The way you were always safe from the sand and the wind."

"That was just my clothing," she said. "I came prepared for a desert. You all didn't."

"And then there was Burning Rock. When I said that you shouldn't have been able to use my glider, I meant, at all. Sokka tried it once, and his best efforts almost left him drowned in a lake."

"Yeah, but I used to do trapeze acts and high wire stunts. I've always been nimble," she said.

"The air is always a little bit cooler around you," Aang said.

"I'm just lucky like that."

"You used airbending against Azula under Sozin City."

"I did not," Ty Lee said.

"You didn't come close to hitting her, but she was bowled away. I know airbending when I see it," Aang said. He stood, and pointed across the entire expanse of the Western Air Temple. "You see that platform, way over there?"

"Uh huh."

"That's where you took off from," he said. "There's no way you just glided here. Ty Lee, you've been airbending for almost two years, now. And you didn't even realize you were doing it."

"But..."

"It's alright," Aang said. "You don't need to be afraid of it."

"I'm not afraid of it," Ty Lee said. She suddenly grinned. "Piandao's gonna be so proud!"

Aang couldn't help but laugh right then. "Yeah, I guess he is. Come on, we should get back to the others. And you should take the long way. You might have gotten lucky figuring out how to glide, but until you can airbend of your own volition, you should play it safe."

"Are you alright?" Ty Lee asked, pressing a hand to his shaved head. "You're not running a fever..."

"What?"

"I just never expected _you_ to be the person telling me to play it safe," she said. She leaned over and gave him a big hug. "I'm going to be the best airbending student you ever had!"

"You're going to be the _first_ airbending student I've ever had," Aang said. He paused, a smile on his face. "So yeah, I guess you're right."

Aang got up as she happily walked through a door and began to make her way up to where the bridges began to span the distances. Aang, though, was a grandmaster at the element of air by the time he turned twelve. Where tiger falcons feared to tread, he boldly soared. He glided away from Ty Lee's perch, back toward the fountain plaza which the group had instantly decided was their headquarters as long as they were in the Western Air Temple. When he landed, he was still smiling. The Air Nomads were gone, but against all odds and in defiance of history itself, the airbenders continued.

Teaching Ty Lee would be something new. He'd never _been_ a master, before. Always the student.

"Aang, where have you been?" Katara asked, a bit annoyed. "We've been trying to track you down for hours."

"I've been trying to fly down Ty Lee," he said. His grin brightened. "She's an airbender!"

"Uh huh," Sokka said.

"What, you knew?"

"Suspected," Sokka said. "The night before the Summer solstice, she... well, let's just say that she demonstrated _remarkable_ control of, well, let's call it 'air'."

"Gross," Toph said. "And awesome. A winning combination."

"That's great," Katara said, genuinely, but he could tell she was a polar hound with a bone. "It really is, but we still need to talk to you about learning proper firebending."

"Alright. We can do that while I show you the giant Pai Sho table. And I know you'd love to see the All-day Echo Chamber."

"That might need to wait," Toph said. She cast a thumb over her shoulder. Walking out from behind a pillar was Zuko.

"Hello," he said nervously. "Zuko here."

Everybody went onto instant high-alert. Sokka's sword and boomerang were out in a heartbeat, and everybody else had dropped into bending stances. Well, except Toph, but she could turn anything into a bending stance. "What are you doing here?" Katara shouted.

"I heard you guys flying around and decided that I should check it out," Zuko said, his voice very uncertain. So were his eyes. "I guess you're kinda surprised to see me here."

"Not really. You did chase us all around the world," Sokka pointed out.

"Right. I should probably apologize for that. Look, um, I've changed, and I think it's time that I joined your group," he rubbed the back of his neck, as though unsure of himself. "And I can teach you! Firebending, I mean! Yeah, I mean, there's only a few people I know of that are better than I am, although, in their defense, they all said that I was a hopeless bastardization of a proper style. The only one who didn't say that was..."

"What are you talking about?" Katara shouted, cutting off his ramble.

"Yeah. What are you doing here, Angry Jerk?" Toph asked, again, not making an aggressive gesture. She only sounded mildly annoyed at his presence, rather than the rage and panic everybody else, Aang included, exhibited.

"I'm trying to do my part to bring down the Fatherlord. I mean, the Fire Lord," Zuko corrected.

"What possible reason could we have to believe you?" Katara shouted, taking an aggressive step forward. Aang couldn't understand the apparent depths of _her_ antipathy.

"Considering that the only thing you've ever done is try to capture Aang," Sokka pointed out.

"I've done lots of other stuff! Good stuff!" Zuko said. "I saved the lives of dozens of people, maybe hundreds, at the Serpent's Pass!"

"And I'm supposed to take your word on it?" Katara asked.

"You might," Toph muttered, but Zuko obviously didn't hear it.

"And when I was trying to escape the Dai Li, I could have stolen your Bison, but I didn't! I set Appa free!" As though called by somebody saying its name, Appa moved up close to Zuko and gave the firebender a lick. Zuko regained his balance and gave the bison a pat on the nose. "Yeah, I remember you too."

"Don't be fooled," Sokka said. "He probably covered himself in honey so Appa would lick him."

"Covered myself in what?" Zuko asked.

"I don't know what your guys' problem is. Angry Jerk here is telling the truth," Toph weighed in.

"That still doesn't excuse all the evil he did," Aang said.

"Like when he attacked our village," Sokka said. "Or burned down Kyoshi Island, or hired a bunch of pirates – PIRATES – to kidnap Katara, or set an ambush in the Fire Temple, or..."

"Or stole my mother's necklace so you could use it to hunt us down!" Katara cut in. "Or tried to kidnap Aang during the Siege of the North."

"And come to think of it, you were pretty lazy in bringing me my tea," Toph said.

Zuko looked desperate. "I know I've done a lot of bad things in the past, but I'm trying to make it better! I mean, I'm trying to apologize for what I did to your village, to Kyoshi Island. For those assassins that are after you, for not being able to..."

"WHAT?" Sokka shouted. "You sent Combustion Man and Gag Mule after us?"

"Those weren't their names, but..." Zuko said uncertainly.

"Excuse me, I'm so sorry to insult your friends," Sokka said sarcastically.

"They're not my friends!"

"And they weren't each others, either," Toph said. "It took three baths to get the last of Gahj Muul out of my hair. You were behind that? He locked us up and tried to kill me!"

Zuko's look went from desperate to devastated. He turned to Aang, his golden eyes pleading. "You're not saying anything. Didn't you once tell me you thought we could be friends? You have to know that I have good inside me."

Aang seethed at having his words, delivered from that hopelessly idealistic time, thrown back at him. How dare he? "There's no way I can trust you after all you've done and after the choices you knowingly made."

"Wait, what about...?" Toph said, but Katara cut her off.

"You need to get out of here, now."

"Either you leave, or we attack. And however powerful you are, I don't think you can fight all of us," Sokka said. Zuko's eyes turned to the ground, and he dropped to his knees.

"If you won't take me as a friend, then take me as a prisoner. I have to be here," he said. "I know it in my heart."

Katara raged, pulling the water out of her flask and flash froze it into a spike which she hurled at Zuko's face. Only Aang's timely intercession, deflecting the spike with his own waterbending, kept the Fire Lord's son from getting his face impaled. Aang quickly interposed himself between the waterbender and the firebender. "What are you doing?" he demanded.

"He'll never leave us alone!" Katara shouted. "We can't ever trust him, not after what he did to us in Ba Sing Se! This is the only way we know we'll be free of his poisonous influence."

"No," Aang said. He glanced over toward the paths. He could see Ty Lee above, the Duke, Haru and Teo staring in fear off to one side. "We have to be better than that. Not just for ourselves, but for them. We aren't the enemy, Katara. We can't sink to their level."

"Is that you, Zuko?" Ty Lee's shout was readily audible. Without a second blink, she dove off her high path, gliding down to the the fountain plaza and landing. But this time, she didn't launch into an embrace. "What are you doing here, Zuko?"

"I'm becoming their prisoner," Zuko said. Ty Lee stared at him for a moment. "Aren't you going to ask why I'm doing that?"

"BLACK! It's not blue anymore!" she squealed with delight, only then launching into one of her signature rib-creaking hugs. She pulled back. "But why are you their prisoner? Did they beat you or something? Did you use your scary blue fire on them? You'd better not've hurt any of my friends! Did you Zuko?"

Zuko looked baffled for a moment, before shaking his head. "If the only way they'll trust me is if I'm in chains, then I'll accept my chains," he said. Toph walked up to him, a sour look on her face, and dragged Zuko away by his collar. The difference in height between the two made the scene seem comical, even though it was deadly serious. The only one who seemed to miss, or else possibly ignore, the pall in the air was the acrobat-cum-airbender.

"Where did you come from?" Sokka asked his girlfriend.

"I'm an airbender now!" she said proudly, brandishing her glider.

"Uh huh," he said. "So now I'm the only non-bender in Team Avatar again?"

"I'm not a bender!" Teo pointed out.

"Neither am I," the Duke said.

"I am," Haru noted. Everybody turned to him. "What? I just arrive here and you're about to murder some guy. I think I deserve something of an explanation."

"It's a very long, very aggravating story," Katara said. She shook her head. "What was he trying to do, anyway? I mean, what could he gain by being shackled in a back room somewhere?"

"Maybe he's waiting until something happens, and then he'll bust out and ambush us when we're all distracted," Sokka said, gesturing provocatively.

"I don't think he would," Ty Lee said. Sokka shook his head, though.

"He wants you to be sad and feel sorry for him, until your guard is down..."

"Sokka, he wasn't..."

"The problem is, he's entirely too good at it," Katara said, turning away and facing the large mural of floating sky bison. "Last time, he was talking about his mother, and making seem like was this actual human being with feelings, and I fell for it. I felt sorry for ZUKO!" she seethed briefly. "But when the time came, he made his choice, and Aang had to pay for it with his life."

"At least he's in a place where we can drop him into a canyon if he gives us any problems," Sokka said. "It's about time that we have him under our thumb, instead of the other way around. He deserves a lot worse than that."

"Don't you say that," Ty Lee said, her demeanor suddenly becoming fierce. It was a startling change. "You don't know anything about what he and his sister had to live with when they were children. Their mother was gone! And every bad thing you see in Azula? Imagine a hundred times worse, and you're not even close to matching their father. You should be on your knees thanking the spirits that he didn't become a complete monster, with Ozai for a father."

"Oh, right. Let's give Zuko a medal for not being as screwed up as he could have been," Katara said sarcastically.

"What is _wrong_ with you people?" Ty Lee shouted. "You people are all so blinded by your hatred for Zuko that you keep overlooking one fact, that even _I_ can see! Yeah, I know that I'm biased to believe in him. Yeah, I know that he's a good person even if you wouldn't believe me in a thousand years. But there's one thing Zuko has that you won't find anywhere else in the Fire Nation: He's on our side, and I bet he's willing to teach Aang how to firebend! And you're just going to shove him off a cliff? Gods! And they say I'm the _dumb_ one around here!"

Ty Lee threw up her hands in annoyance, then ran toward the cliff, snapping open her glider and soaring into the abyss. Aang couldn't do anything but watch as she flew away. All eyes turned back toward the center. "Did we just get screamed at by an angry Ty Lee?" Sokka asked, bewildered.

"I think we did," his sister answered.

"I don't care," Aang said, his jaw set. "I'm not having Zuko as a firebending master."

"You're damned right," Sokka agreed.

"He's just lucky you spared him," Katara joined the chorus. At the bridge, the could hear Toph tsking loudly.

"You people are going to be the death of me," she said. "I'm going to go talk to the only airbender around here with some brains," she then turned and walked away, no doubt in search of Ty Lee.

* * *

Zuko sat in his new room, a wide open chamber which seemed to bend back on itself in some of the strangest architecture that he'd ever seen in his life. Zuko was bound in shackles which perfectly contoured to his hands, the work of the blind earthbender girl. At this point, he just took all of the shocks and impossibilities which presented themselves to him with a quiet grace. He didn't have many other options. He still felt a gnawing fear, flickering like a candle under his metaphorical heel. Iroh might be safe... but was Mai?

"I really am an idiot," Zuko said.

"idiot idiot idiot idiot"

"Telling them I sent an assassin after them?" he stammered. "Why didn't I just say Azula did that? They'd _believe_ that, wouldn't they? I mean, she's crazy enough that she would probably admit to it just in the chance it could backfire on me! Of course, I'm locked in a weird room talking to a lemur, so I'm not exactly the portrait of sanity."

"anity anity anity anity"

"That's going to drive me nuts," Zuko muttered. The brown and white lemur just sat on his shoulder, picking through Zuko's hair. It wouldn't find lice or fleas, since Zuko was quite sanitary, but the lemur still pawed its way through his hair with its tiny, hand like appendages.

"nuts nuts nuts nuts"

Zuko shook his head. As he sat, staring at the architecture and trying to ignore the lemur that occasionally tried to pick his nose, he thought back to the last time he was here. Not even fourteen years old, still so badly hurt. So angry.

"He's not here, Prince Zuko," Iroh said, standing close to Zuko's side. "But after one hundred years in hiding, the chances of finding the Avatar here are incredibly small. He would be a brave or brazen man to hide from the Fire Nation in a temple within their lands."

"If he's not here, then I'll search every other Air Temple," Zuko said loudly, still trying to sound tough with his voice not-yet-broken. "I will spend every day of the rest of my life hunting down the Avatar. And when I find him, I'll return him to my father and restore my honor."

"Honor is not something that my brother can give you, my prince," Iroh said calmly. "It is something you will need to come to understand for yourself. But we have nothing but time. Sit, Prince Zuko. We should enjoy a cup of tea before striking out in the morning."

"That's all you ever think about!" Zuko screamed. "Is this how my exile is going to be? Me trying desperately to restore my honor, and you slowing me down at every turn with your laziness and your... TEA? I have a destiny, Uncle!"

"Destiny is a funny thing," Iroh said, gently patting the young Zuko on the shoulder, and "Sometimes, the path we choose to walk in life is the one that nobody else could choose for us. Not because you are being contrary, but because it is the only one you know which will ever bring you happiness."

"My happiness will only come when I find the Avatar," Zuko had said darkly, "and bring him back to my father in chains."

What the fool young Zuko had been. And it had taken him six years to finally understand it completely. All it had cost him was everything he thought he wanted. He took a deep breath, and breathed heavily onto his iron mittens. The blue fire from his breath coated the shackles until they began to melt away. He quickly extracted his hands before they were burnt, then, he sat, his eyes sliding closed, waiting for a chance to redeem himself.

* * *

Azula knelt on the floor, her supplication long and deliberate. She could hear Father walking to and fro in front of the trough of flames. Today, they reached almost to the ceiling, an overt sign of Father's dominance after the failed invasion on the Day of Black Sun. She waited for him to speak to her, to congratulate her on snuffing out that invasion without any significant loss for the Fire Nation, the procurement of prisoners of war. She waited, and Ozai was silent.

Azula knew that one of the first lessons of kingship was in making people wait. It broke down the confidence of those who thought they could speak as equals. It reminded the lessers that they were in the presence of their betters, and that their betters would interact with them at their own leisure. And in the Fire Nation, supplications of this manner, drawn out, could cause intense pain in the hips, knees, and back.

"Father, I..."

"SILENCE!" Father roared. "When did I say you could speak?"

Azula recoiled a bit. This was not the reaction she had expected from her patriarch. She didn't understand. She'd done exactly what he wanted her to. She crushed the invasion, captured almost all of its manpower and strategists... Why was he so angry? What had she done wrong?

Nobody can ever love you.

Azula shook for a moment, wanting to scream at that voice, make it leave her alone. But she didn't have that freedom. Not now. The footfalls finally stopped, standing directly before her hands. "I am disappointed in you, Azula," Ozai said. Her stomach flopped. No. No, he couldn't be! She was his favored child! She had to be perfect for him! She looked up at him, and his look of reproach sent a shiver of dread down her spine. "Well? Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"I'm sorry, Father," Azula said. "What did I...?"

Ozai stepped forward and pinned one of her hands against the floor, a painful vice between his weight an the unyielding obsidian. She schooled herself not to let out a noise of pain. She would not show weakness and disappoint Father further! "I am disappointed in you because you thought you could _lie to me_."

"I would never," Azula began, but his other foot pressed down on her other hand. This time, the whimper of pain from her compressed hands escaped her despite her best efforts, tiny and low from the back of her throat. "I'm sorry, Father."

"You said that Zuko slew the Avatar," Ozai said. "But he told me that you were the one who struck him down. And yet, he lives, and continues to vex me."

"Zuko was lying to you, Father," Azula said, trying to keep her voice steady. "He is a traitor and a bastard! He is no brother of mine!"

Ozai twisted his foot a bit before stepping back. She fought the urge to comfort her hands. "Rise," he ordered. She stood, folding her hands behind her, where she silently kneaded them. He walked up to her, pulling her chin up toward him. A surge of dread washed through her. "I trained you to be a much better liar than that, Azula." His backhand across her face knocked her to the floor.

Kill him now.

What? The thought had entered her mind the instant the pain cleared, but she couldn't. She wouldn't! "I'm sorry, Father. I can do better."

"You will," Ozai said. "Stand up," Azula stood up again, making very sure not to rub the red hand-print on her cheek. It would be weak of her to. Ozai stood where he was. "This is your mistake. If you want to regain your honor, and my faith in you, you will redress it. Your brother is somewhere out there, no doubt betraying the secrets of our nation to the Avatar. Your duty is to find him, and kill him, the Avatar, and any companion of either one. Now get out of my sight!"

"Anything you ask, Father," Azula said. Azula turned and strode out of the throne room, her careful gait crushing the urge for her to rattle her knees and – however horrifying the thought – start crying. Father was angry at her. This couldn't be! She'd done everything in her power to please him, and she still couldn't succeed. That voice was right. She wasn't good enough. She would never be the perfect daughter he wanted, needed. When she left the chamber, she found Mai sitting there, her dispassionate grey eyes looking only for a moment at the mark on Azula's cheek, on the bruising which would soon swell painfully into her knuckles.

"He didn't take it well," Mai said simply. "What now?"

"Where would he go?" Azula asked. Mai stared at Azula, not flinching one whit.

"He didn't say," Mai said. "In fact, he took the time to leave a nice letter telling me that I was no longer his girlfriend before he left. Lovely man, that brother of yours."

"Zuko is not my brother!" Azula shouted. Servants, at the far end of the hall, glanced at her and quickly hurried out of sight. Mai stood her ground.

"Ursa was mother to both of you. Half brother, then," Mai dismissed. For some reason, what should have instilled rage in Azula calmed her down. Mai was acting exactly like Mai would. Calmly, with that bored tone in her voice, and no sympathy for anybody. "I'm going to do something about your hands. If those swell up, it'll probably mess with your firebending."

Azula's eyes broke from Mai's for just a moment. "Thank you," she said, quietly. Mai raised a brow. "For being here."

"Somebody's got to be," Mai said, her voice hollow. The voice was wrong. Azula still had Mai. That had to be worth _something_.

* * *

Zuko breathed deeply, letting the air flow down into his pool of chi. As he did, the tiny fire he'd built rose up a bit. His exhale, letting the metaphorical smoke of his inner fire waft away, and the fire settled. He could have made that flame burn blue, but right now, he was just experiencing the air in his lungs, the rising sun that he could feel, even if not see. A lemur sat on his shoulders, tail wrapped around Zuko's neck, apparently quite content and possibly asleep.

"Breakfast time," the blind earthbender's voice came to Zuko. He didn't open his eyes. He just breathed in and out. "Wait one damned minute. What are you doing out of my chains?"

"chains chains chains chains"

"I wanted to build a fire," Zuko said quietly. The echoes didn't reach back to him. "What was your name?"

"Toph Beifong. Greatest earthbender in the world, and don't you forget it!"

"get it get it get it get it"

"Alright, that's starting to piss me off," Toph said, and she bent a wall into the architecture, silencing the echoes. "So, what have you been doing? Plotting? Planning? Possibly scheming?"

Zuko just breathed in, then out.

"And what's Momo doing here?"

"This isn't 'Momo'," Zuko said. The lemur perked up, and let out a screech at Toph, before hiding behind Zuko's head. Toph set the platter down and earthbent it toward Zuko. He took it and started eating quietly. "This is rather good. Potato stew?"

"Be thankful we feed you at all," Toph said. "Sending assassins after us. What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't," Zuko said. "Desperation makes fiends out of saints. Have you ever done something you weren't expecting to get out of a hopeless situation?"

"Well, yeah," Toph said. She got a serious look on her face again. "What are you doing here, Zuko? And don't lie. Unlike your sister, I've got a fairly good bead on when you're telling the truth!"

Zuko looked up at her. "I want my destiny. I want to bring down the Fire Lord and bring a new age of peace to the Fire Nation and the world."

"By burning it all to the ground, right?" Toph asked. She had no idea how close to a horrifying truth she'd gotten.

"I want this war to be over," Zuko said. "I've been fighting it for so long. I'm tired. And the only way that this war can end is if I help the Avatar realize _his_ destiny."

"Let me tell you about my destiny, Angry Jerk," Toph began. Zuko lowered his bowl.

"No, let _me_ tell you about your destiny," Zuko said. "You were born blind, by the look of your eyes. And the life of a blind girl wasn't one you were willing to embrace; spiritualism, perhaps clergy, or maybe a decade of carefully manicured beauty before getting married off to somebody who would like a woman who stays _very_ close to home. But that path disgusted you, so you forged your own, braving the wilds and dangers you never expected. Now, by your own admission, you're the greatest earthbender in the world. That is your destiny, little woman. The destiny you chose for yourself."

Toph stared at him. "When did you become the Cool Old Guy?" she asked. That was how she always referred to Iroh. And he realized it did sound like something Iroh would have said to him, and one that Zuko would have immediately discarded as drivel as little as a year ago.

"When I finally understood how much I lost by forsaking him," Zuko said. Toph moved closer, and slugged Zuko in the arm. "Ow. What was that for?"

"Being right," Toph said. She reached into a pocket, and pulled out Roku's hairpiece. Which she would have had to stolen from his things. "I was gonna keep this, considering how much trouble it took me to find it in the first place, but... You might actually deserve to have it. And, let's face it, if you can make tea half as well as the Old Guy, I'm gonna recommend we keep you around."

"Well, half as good if I'm lucky," Zuko admitted. Iroh made _unbelievably_ good tea. Zuko pulled out a strand of twine and gathered his shaggy hair up into a phoenix tail, and set the hairpiece upon it. It was good to have it in place again. For some reason, it just felt right. "I'm going to make up for all the mistakes I made."

"Yeah, you'd better," Toph said, punching her palm. "You'll give me lots of time to get you back for locking me in a wooden prison with a crazy sandbender."

"I thought he was an earthbender?" Zuko asked.

The line of questioning was brought to a halt as an explosion rocked the Air Temple. Toph and Zuko shared a look... or at least he thought she did, since it was hard to tell, her being blind and all.

"What was that?" Toph asked. She earthbent, and the door to the All-day Echo Chamber opened. A hissing sound cut through the air, caught in Zuko's keen ears. It was punctuated by loud popping, and finished with a detonation. Zuko's eyes went wide. He could think of only three people in the Fire Nation who could use the detonation ray attack. Ozai was one, Azula a possible second. And the third... was an assassin that Zuko had sent. "Well, making up for mistakes starts now, Sparky."

"What?"

"You're 'Sparky' now," Toph said. But Zuko was already running.

* * *

"Has anybody seen Ty Lee?" Katara asked. Haru shrugged.

"I don't know," Teo said. "Besides, I've been waiting to take a ride through that chamber of statues. It'll probably be a lot more fun now that I've installed breaks into my chair."

"She'll be back," Aang said. "I figure that she was angry, and wanted to blow off some steam. Everybody does. I'm pretty much the poster-boy for it!"

"Yeah, you _are_ pretty lazy," Sokka agreed, picking at the engravings of his meteorite sword's hilt, trying to get the last of the smut and blood out from the failed invasion on the Day of Black Sun. He always thought that cleaning up the mess would somehow be less involved than making it. Then again, after Ba Sing Se, his new, optimistic attitude was thrown into a corner and shot. Pessimist Sokka never had those problems before.

"Well, Toph's giving the prisoner some food right now, but when she comes back, she can find Ty Lee fast enough if she's still in the Air Temple," Aang pointed out. Sokka nodded. It was astounding how little time anybody here had to _just be alive_. Sokka thought that the day after a battle, he'd never put a stitch of clothing on, no matter the circumstances; having Ty Lee just added a level of fun to that which he hadn't predicted a year ago. But the reality was he was tired. No, he was downright exhausted. Everybody needed to rest.

"I don't know why we're keeping him here," Katara said darkly. Sokka also didn't get why Katara seemed to hate Zuko with the fire of a thousand suns, but there it was. "You should have let me..."

"Katara, don't even. He's not worth it. We all know that if you deal with Zuko, you get burned," Sokka said. "Literally!"

"Still," Aang said. "Something about the way he spoke... he seemed so... desperate."

"And when hasn't he been?" Katara asked. "For the last however many years, he dedicated his life to finding you. He'd do anything to get his hands around your throat. There's nothing good about Prince Zuko."

"Preaching to the converted," Sokka pointed out.

"That isn't what I meant. In Ba Sing Se, he had this hunger in him, that was threatening to eat him from the inside out. But yesterday, he just... wanted something, and he was willing to pay any personal price to get it."

"So, basically, exactly the same as before."

"I didn't say that," Aang sputtered, trying to find the words. "It was different!"

"I can't believe you'd be the one to defend him," Katara said. Sokka perked up. He thought he'd heard something, but it might have been the wind.

"Guys, shush for a moment," he said. Both turned to him, as though angry that he'd interrupted their argument.

Clang.

Paff.

Clang.

All eyes turned to the pagoda behind Sokka, hanging across a great void. A figure, tiny only because of the great distance, stared back at them, the morning light reflecting off of a metal arm and leg. A snapping sound surged through the air, and everybody dove for cover behind the lip of the fountain. The detonation sent water soaring into the sky, the temple vibrating just a little bit.

"Where does this guy keep coming from?" Aang shouted. He turned, tearing down a chunk of the 'fountain' in the ceiling, and hurling it toward Combustion Man. The assassin smashed the block out of the air with his metal arm, then let fly another death ray. This time, they all had to vault away from the pool and make for the corner of the pagoda proper.

When the blast dissipated and the debris rattled across the floor, Katara tried her hand, popping out from behind a pillar and bending the water out of the pool up toward Combustion Man. Instead of just trying to wash him off his feet, which all had witnessed was impossible back in Burning Rock, she twisted just as the water reached toward him, showering him with fast moving, spear-sharp, arm-length shards of ice. He tucked his body behind his metal arm and leg, which took most of the punishment, but more than a few tore at his flaxen shirt and tore a strip off of his shaven scalp. Blood began to flow down Combustion Man's face, but he didn't seem hampered in the slightest. Only by Sokka grabbing and hauling his sister back into cover did she avoid getting vaporized by Combustion Man's answer for everything: another death beam.

"I can't get an angle to waterbend on him without getting blasted!" Katara shouted.

A snap of rock called Sokka's attention, only an instant before Toph, catapulted by her own earthbending, landed onto the platform. She thrust out her arms, and a huge chunk of the pagoda above surged out, intended to crush Combustion Man under its sheer weight. But while Combustion Man only really had one trick, he did it very well. One death ray blasted the attack to dust, and the second, an instant later, landed right at Toph's feet. She was hurled through the air, only prevented a fall to her death by Aang's airbending. Even then, she was brutally battered.

"What are we going to do?" Sokka asked. Combustion Man answered, by death-raying one of the supports for the fountain promenade. Sokka's stomach flopped. "Oh, no. He's going to blow us right off the cliff!"

"I'll call Appa!" Aang said, reaching for his bison whistle, but Sokka grabbed Aang's hand before he could blow.

"He'll just get exploded!" Sokka said. "We need backup!"

"If Toph can't beat him, what hope does Haru have?" Katara pointed out. "And besides him, the only one not huddling here is..."

"Stop! You will stop attacking the Avatar!" Sokka's brow furrowed. Was that Zuko?

* * *

Zuko bounded down from the heights, breaking himself before a brutal landing with a blast of firebending. It was a trick that only a few people ever really learned. Still, when he hit the 'bottom' of the inverted pagoda, he had to tuck and roll to save his ankles. It wasn't safe, but he needed speed more than anything else. He came running around the corner, skidding to a stop. There he was. The assassin. One of the most brutally efficient participants in the Agni Kai in the modern age. Zuko hurled a snapping blast of blue flame at him. The assassin turned, enraged that fire would assault him. It rolled over him like he wasn't even there.

"Stop!" Zuko shouted. "You will stop attacking the Avatar!"

The assassin's bloodied expression turned to disinterest, and he faced the fountain plaza again. Zuko ran in front of him, blue fire surrounding his fist. Even if the assassin could redirect the fire somehow that Zuko couldn't comprehend, a flaming punch to the head was a flaming punch to the head. "I won't pay you if you keep attacking!" Zuko bellowed. The assassin's look turned to annoyance, and Zuko found himself being brusquely shoved aside, like he was a child.

"Fine! If you stop, I'll pay you double! Triple! Anything!" Zuko tried to interfere again, and this time, that annoyance turned to outright anger. But a sound emitted from the assassin's throat. If Zuko wasn't completely mistaken, it sounded like... a chuckle. This time, the assassin smashed Zuko aside with his metal fist to Zuko's chest, knocking the wind out of his lungs and driving him to a knee. "Don't make me destroy you! I won't let you hurt them!" Zuko croaked. The assassin turned to him, disdain in his eyes. Zuko finally understood. The assassin wasn't working for Zuko. He was working for Ozai. And Ozai could offer much more than Zuko ever could. Zuko had just enough time to bend his fire into a shield before the assassin targeted him, driving one of those detonating blasts into him. Zuko was blasted backward, and felt his feet leave the pagoda.

Then, there was nothing but the wind whistling by his ears. Falling to his death? It didn't hurt nearly so bad as knowing that he'd failed. He tried to save the Avatar, however a strange juxtaposition that was considering the last few years, and it literally blew up in his face.

Then, his fall was abruptly halted. There were a pair of legs wrapped around his waist, and he was now flying _forward_ through the air. A glance upward showed the underside of cleavage, a neck and chin, and above that, a steel glider. The other airbender! Wait a second. This wasn't an airbender, it was Ty Lee! He'd wondered how she got to him so fast, back when they were taking him prisoner. If Zuko was a less resilient fellow, his mind might have broken a bit at such a visceral realization. Flighty, ditsy Ty Lee was an airbender. Come to think of it, it wasn't _that_ big of a surprise.

Ty Lee dumped Zuko onto the pagoda at the corner, just as the assassin released another explosive attack, which snapped another pillar holding the fountain plaza onto the cliff. Zuko struggled to get the breath back into his lungs. Between his beating and his short fall with its abrupt stop, he was almost apoplectic. Ty Lee, though, rushed forward, snapping her glider shut, then breaking it in half somehow, and smashing it against the assassin in a flurry of blows. But her triumphant expression quickly turned to horror when her Dim Mak strikes didn't seem to work on him.

She dodged away from his brutal iron backhand, but when she tried to counter, his swift stomp pinned her foot the the ground. She let out a yell of pain, which was quickly stymied when the assassin punched her hard in the stomach with his remaining fist. She doubled over from pain and having her wind knocked out, and he then elbowed her in the back of the head. She dropped, groaning to the ground. He paused, then gave her a brutal kick, which sent her sliding across the pagoda and over the edge. Zuko's eyes went wide. Save her, or try to save Aang again? He knew the decision he had to make. He hoped the others would understand it.

* * *

The entire plaza groaned when the next death ray hit. They didn't have much time. And they couldn't get away without making themselves direct targets for Combustion Man's attacks. With Toph down, they didn't even have a way of supporting the crumbling supports for the plaza.

"We're running out of time," Aang shouted, leaning out of cover for a moment. A death beam slammed into the shattered pillar he'd ducked behind, blasting more of it away. "I just can't get a bead on him!"

Sokka's mind started going a league a second. "I think I know how to get an angle on him!" he shouted. "Everybody stay down!"

"But if we..."

"Just do it!" Sokka said. He pulled his boomerang out, and waited. Popping snaps sounded in the air, and he watched as the death beam shot down from above, slamming into one of the four remaining pillars. It cracked and rumbled under the punishment, and he quickly ran the numbers in his mind. There was nothing better than physics to save your life. "Come on, boomerang, don't fail me now!"

A lifetime of practice put into motion. His arm arched, his wrist snapped, and the blue metal began cutting through the air, first down, but then, surging up as his bodily momentum carried him out of cover. He watched as his arc of metal slashed through the air. Combustion Man turned to Sokka, leaning back, preparing another death beam, but as he was leaning forward, the boomerang smashed into the center of his forehead, before continuing on its spinning path. Combustion Man let out a bellow of pain, falling back into the wall behind him. A loud pop sounded, but it was near Combustion man.

"Yeah! Boomerang!" Sokka shouted, catching his weapon as it returned to him. The snapping and popping didn't stop, however. Combustion Man pushed himself upright, his bloody form heaving as though gathering even more power. Sokka's face drooped, and he looked at his weapon. "Awwww. Boomeraaaaang..."

He knew he wouldn't make it back in time. So like a clubbed scorpion seal, he stood there, as Combustion Man surged forward. The popping became louder, and tiny explosions began to surround Combustion Man. He didn't even seem to notice them. But Sokka did. Combustion Man leaned back, then forward again, and a third spiraling set of explosions was added to the first two. He looked down, and his expression, even from that distance, turned to shock. Then, all three drunken death rays exploded, right where they started.

Boom. The force of the explosion was such that it snapped the entire pagoda that the firebending assassin had been standing on, sending the entire structure hurtling toward the bottom of the canyon. At first, there was no sign at all of Combustion Man. Then, a whooshing sound, and something splashing into the fountain. Sokka looked back, then forward. The crumbling sounds of the pagoda smashing on the bottom of the canyon took a long time to reach up. Everybody held their breath. Sokka carefully moved to the fountain, reaching into it. He pulled up an extremely heavy mechanical leg.

"Well, I'm guessing he's not going anywhere," Sokka quipped. Everybody came out of their hiding places. Even Haru, who was keeping the Duke from crying of fear, looked down. Sokka looked around. "Where's Ty Lee?"

"I'm sorry, Sokka," Katara said. "She tried to fight him..."

"She got blown up?" Sokka shrieked.

"No, but he knocked her out and..."

"She'll be fine," A tired, battered voice said. Limping across a path leading to the cliff wall, his clothes torn, and his hair leaking out of his golden headpiece, was Zuko. He was carrying Ty Lee. "She just needs some rest," he said. "And maybe some healing."

"How did you...?" Aang began.

"Why did you do it?" Katara cut him off.

"She needed somebody to save her," Zuko said simply, setting her on the stone, propped up against a chunk of rock. He looked up. "Is Toph alright? She got hit pretty hard."

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here," Toph muttered, although she didn't even try to get up. "I've had worse."

"I'm glad you're alright," Zuko said. He slumped on the rock, next to Sokka's girlfriend. Aang looked at Zuko, as though every equation with Zuko in it needed to be revised.

"I can't believe I'm going to say this, but Zuko, I think you've saved our lives," Aang said.

"What about me? You know, with the boomerang?" Sokka gestured broadly. He was then completely ignored.

Zuko leaned forward, covered in sweat and bruises starting to show. "I know I didn't explain myself well yesterday. And I know you don't have any reason to trust me, but I need to believe that there's a chance for me to earn my place here. It took me six years and every mistake I've made to understand that the destiny that I was pursuing before was an illusion, meant to keep me desperate, hungry, and blind enough to do anything Fire Lord Ozai wanted me to. And that blindness caused me to hurt too many people to even name. I had somebody who was trying to show me a better way, and I betrayed him. That betrayal will haunt me for the rest of my life. But I know that I can make the world a better place, so that my karma can be restored and my life a beacon of hope, rather than an object lesson in destruction."

"You accept responsibility for your actions," Aang said, his voice distant. "And you will work to make amends for the wrong that you've done."

"Whatever it costs me, no matter how long it takes," Zuko said. "Fire Lord Ozai's rule has to end, and you are the only way that it will. Please, let me teach you the Fire. I know from experience that you've got a remedial understanding of it at best. And if you want to fight Ozai, you'll need to be even better than he is. I know. I've done it before," he idly rubbed at the scar on his face.

Aang turned toward the abyss for a moment, before turning, letting the morning sun cast a shadow across his face. "I think you belong here," Aang said quietly. "We've all done things we're not proud of, but we learn from them, we grow from them. I can tell, not just from what you say, but from what you did, that you're starting to grow from your mistakes. If I turned you away, I'd be worse than a hypocrite. I'd be a fool. I think you _are_ supposed to be my firebending master," Zuko leaned back, a small smile on his face. "But," Aang continued, "it's not my decision alone. Sokka? What do you think?"

"He saved my girlfriend's life. What do you think?" Sokka said, gathering up the acrobat-turned-airbender. She mumbled something unintelligible, and then went silent, her breath puffing against his chest.

"Toph?"

"He ain't bad with tea," Toph said idly. "Sure. Keep him around. Besides, he's a lot less annoying than he used to be."

"Katara?" Aang asked. Katara turned her gaze between Aang and Zuko. It was still dark.

"Whatever you think is best is what we'll do," Katara said. "I trust your judgment."

"I won't let you down," Zuko said, unsteadily getting to his feet. "I promise."

* * *

Zuko limped after Sokka, listening to him hum a very familiar song as he moved. Zuko couldn't put his finger on it, but he'd heard it somewhere before. Finally, Sokka gestured into a room. "Well, here you are. Home sweet home, I guess."

"Thank you," Zuko said. Sokka stared at the firebender's back for a long moment, before turning away.

"_Wow, this is really, really weird_," the Tribesman said in his own tongue as he walked away. Zuko didn't doubt that it was. He set down his sparse bag of things on the floor next to the mattress. He reached in, and pulled out damning documentation, setting those aside carefully so they wouldn't be damaged or lost. Then, he reached in, and pulled out a small illustration of Iroh. He stared at it for a long time, trying to guess what Iroh was doing right now. If he was really alright. That fear was still there, but not for Iroh. Mai was still in the platypus-bear's den. He had to give serious thought to how to keep her safe. He hoped what he'd already done would be enough, but that hope hung tenuous.

"You might have everybody else fooled with your _transformation_," Katara's voice came from the door. "But I know you've had a lot of difficulty doing the right thing in the past. So I'm going to tell you something. I don't care what you're planning. If you help Aang, you'll have no trouble with me," Katara stepped close, staring up under her brows at him. "But I will be watching you. If you turn back to the way you once were; if you make one step backwards, one step out of line; if you give me one reason to think you might hurt Aang... and you won't need to worry about your 'destiny' any longer, because I will end it. Right then and there," Katara said, her blue eyes flashing with a promise of destruction. "Permanently."

She didn't even wait for his response before turning and walking out of the room. Zuko had two thoughts. First, he now considered her to be the second most dangerous woman in his life, after Mai of course. Second, it was frightening how close what she'd said mirrored what Roku had said to Sozin. As Iroh said; destiny could be a funny thing.

* * *

_Leave a review._


	13. Avalanche

**I could have split this in half, but it didn't seem like it was necessary to do that. Worse, if I had, it would have disrupted the narrative flow that I had going, so I just left it in one piece. A question asked before of me was 'how am I going to deal with Boiling Rock'? Well, short answer, I don't intend to at all. Long answer, well, just read and find out. As for why I didn't feel it inappropriate to make Ty Lee an Airbender (which I'd planned from the start), look at the title. It's not "Avatar: the Last Airbender". It's Avatar: Children of Water/Earth/Fire. Why should Aang hold a monopoly on airbending until after he's canonically dead?**

**Despite the length, easily twice that of any other average chapter, this didn't take long to write. It's no bloody wonder that I can update this story every other day: Considering that since I started Children of Earth, I've been managing, on average, 8,000 word days, and only posting every other... yeah. Consider that as this chapter hits the internets, I'm working on the penultimate chapter of the story. I like to give myself a buffer.**

**There's one last big revelation for the Gaang, and you start getting concrete hints of it here. Well, two, really, although one of them seemed pretty obvious when I was writing it. And nothing... NOTHING... is faster than a stupid Sokka.**

* * *

"You can sit of you like. There's not as much importance in stance compared to other forms," Zuko said. "What's important is the feel. Do you feel the sunrise?"

"I feel something, but it might be that I haven't had breakfast yet," Aang said. Zuko tweezed the bridge of his nose.

"A firebender's power comes from Agni, the sun. Every night, when it goes away, we are weakened. When it rises in the morning, we are strong. The worst time to fight against a firebender is high noon, unless you're another firebender," Zuko said. "Now feel the sun."

"But I can't see the sun," he said, sitting in the shadows.

"Seeing it isn't important," Zuko said. "Just feel it. And make sure to breathe deeply."

"Feel the sun and breathe? That's my firebending lesson?" Aang asked. Zuko shrugged.

"Firebending comes from the breath. You might have great lungs, but if you can't control your breath, you won't be able to control your fire. If you don't control your fire, it lashes out and destroys things that you care about," Zuko twisted away and into the same stance Azula used when she almost murdered Iroh. A blast of explosive blue flame shot away from his knuckles, detonating in the distance against the far wall of the canyon. "Control is more important than _anything_ when dealing with flames. Anything less is unforgivably reckless."

"That doesn't sound like the old you," Ty Lee commented nearby. He should have known a blow to the head wouldn't keep Ty Lee down for long. And a week had pretty much mended all wounds, save for the missing pagoda in the air temple. Haru and Toph had to build a bridge to get past it.

"Maybe I'm not the old me," Zuko said. "And this coming from the Fire Nation noble who became an airbender. Do you know the meaning of irony?"

"Just sayin'," Ty Lee said. Of course she was impatient. At the same time Zuko was trying to teach Aang firebending, Aang was trying to teach Ty Lee airbending. And the Avatar was having a lot more success than Zuko. It didn't help that the two airbenders were basically gender-swaps of each other, both flighty, easily distracted... He decided to cut off that line of thought before he thought of something insulting.

"So how long do I need to breathe and feel the sun?" Aang asked.

"Until you understand," Zuko said. "The pool of chi is central to firebending. While other forms rely on stance, the movement of energy outside the self, or whatever it is that airbenders do, fire comes from within. Every fire in the world needs fuel, heat, and air. The air comes from the world, but the heat comes from our bodies. And so does the fuel. We burn not wood nor oils nor coal, but the energy we cultivate inside our pool of chi, here, in the stomach."

"The Fire Chakra!" Aang said, excited. "Huh. I guess that finally makes sense!"

"Feel the sun," Zuko said, ignoring Aang's outburst. "Just let that sensation move through you."

"And then?"

"Meditate or something, I don't know," Zuko said. "Trust me. Iroh drilled this into my head for weeks after we left the Fire Nation. I know it's true, and I know it's important, even if it seems... dull."

"Do I have to feel the sun?" Ty Lee asked.

"If you want to," Zuko said. "It won't do much for you, since you're not a firebender."

"I'm going to do it anyway," she said, settling into a stance much like Aang. Zuko shook his head. Ty Lee was always one to try to jump onto the newest fad. He stood, dusting off his pants and walking away. Learning to get that unconscious feel for the sun and the energy it gave was one of the fundamental lessons of firebending. It was strange that it wasn't until he was training with Iroh that he started to deal with things like breath control, which seemed so basic and obviously necessary.

Aang would probably be fine on his own for a while. Unless he got impatient and started playing with fire. The thought of that almost made Zuko turn back around and wait, but a rumbling in his own stomach kept him on his path. Firebenders didn't just depend on their metaphorical stomachs, but their physical ones as well. Nothing's more pathetic than a half-starved firebender. The fountain plaza, reinforced after its little incident, remained one of the most popular gathering spots for the group, and at the moment, they were eating breakfast.

Katara was cooking, the other children and the earthbending teen Haru munching away at her bannock and pemmican. Toph was pointedly looking away from the legless teenager, Teo. Even Zuko could tell she was trying to work up the nerve to talk to him. It was strange how a young woman so overwhelmingly powerful could be so nervous around a boy she was interested in. Then again, Azula's one attempt at romance blew up in her face so heinously that she burned down a man's house in response, so it might be something of a trend.

One teenager wasn't eating, though. Sokka looked up when Zuko silently tore off a chunk of bannock and beckoned him over. Zuko raised his one remaining eyebrow and moved to the Tribesman's side. "Hey, can I talk to you?"

"You appear to be," Zuko answered, taking a bite of the bread.

"Very funny," Sokka said sarcastically. "Look, if somebody were taken prisoner by the Fire Nation, where would they end up?"

"Could be any of a lot of places. If you're just a murderer or a rapist or something, and you're never going to see another free day anyway, they'd send you some place like The Boiling Rock. Other people would end up in military prisons, or maybe Ashfall in Sozin City. Why? Who got captured?" Zuko asked.

"When the invasion plan failed, some of our men got captured. I just wondered where they might be."

"That doesn't narrow it down much," Zuko admitted. "For the most part, any captured force is split up as much as possible."

"But what about the leaders? Where would they go?"

"What are you steering toward, Sokka?" Zuko asked. Sokka sighed.

"Our dad. He was captured on the Day of Black Sun, and he was pretty much the most important guy there."

Zuko sighed, not able to look Sokka in the eye. "You should give up whatever you're planning," he said. "It won't be able to help him."

"Why not? Where could he be that's so much worse than something called the Boiling Rock? I mean, it's a rock that's boiling, for gods' sake!"

"Technically, it's the lake around the rock which is boiling," Zuko said. He scowled. "Fine. You want to know? They've probably taken him to Avalanche."

"And what is Avalanche?" Sokka asked.

"The highest security prison for anybody in the Fire Nation," he said. "It's built near the top of a mountain, so high that it's hard to breathe. Prisoners don't cause much trouble if they can barely move because of the cold and the thin air. We send our most dangerous firebenders there, because they have so much less to work with. Political prisoners – which is mostly just anybody who Ozai didn't like – and leaders in the war effort also end up there."

"You're telling me that they've shipped my father to a cold, thin-aired place inside the Fire Nation," Sokka asked. Zuko nodded. Sokka broke into a grin. "Tui La, it's like they're begging for him to escape!"

"What?" Zuko asked. "That place is almost impossible to reach. Before War Balloons, the only way up was by a heavily-defended and treacherous path. Anybody fleeing would have to evade not just the guards, but the elements as well."

Sokka brought Zuko to a halt with a superior gesture. "Where am I from?"

"The Southern Water Tribe, why?" Zuko asked.

"And where do my people live?" Sokka asked. Zuko frowned as he got what Sokka was getting at.

"It doesn't matter," Zuko said. "Avalanche has a reputation for being inescapable, one that's well deserved," he paused. "Why? What are you planning?"

"Nothing. Just glad to know he'd be kept in a place just like home," Sokka said, before walking away, munching on his breakfast. Zuko didn't believe a word of it. He took a bite of the pemmican, and immediately spat it back out. How could those people live off this kind of food? It boggled the mind.

* * *

Sokka quietly extricated himself from his airbending girlfriend, and quickly reclothed himself. He'd been thinking about Avalanche all day, and he knew his course of action. He paused as he grabbed his green and gold bag, already packed with everything he figured he was going to need. As he walked away, surrounded by the snores of those who were sleeping nearby, he couldn't help but look back at Ty Lee. Would she understand this? He hoped she would. And if he didn't come back, he hoped she'd find some way to be happy. Then again, her being Ty Lee, happy tended to stay very close to her.

Sokka quietly slipped out of the living area, walking the circuitous path through the temple. This place had been built for people who could fly. There wasn't a direct path leading anywhere. And since Sokka wanted neither to fall to his death nor wake somebody up, he took it slowly. When he finally got to the bison pens, a spot that Appa always went when nobody was demanding his attention, the moon had swung quite a bit in the sky. He moved slowly, and almost fumbled when he stepped on a lemur. It turned, looking back at him. "Shhh!" Sokka said. The lemur let out a panicked screech, although luckily not a loud one, then scampered up onto Appa's back. Sokka sighed. Momo could be so troublesome. He quietly pulled himself up Appa's fur, and heaved his bag into the saddle.

"I can tell you weren't planning anything," Zuko said sarcastically, lazing in the saddle. Sokka let out a clipped yell of shock and fell back onto the stone. Appa let out a low groan, probably annoyed at having been awakened in the night. Sokka looked up as Zuko leaned over the horn of the saddle, smirking down. The lemur climbed up onto Zuko's shoulder.

"Fine! I'm going to rescue my dad, and you found me out. Happy now?"

"I'm never happy," Zuko said evenly. "I'm trying to keep you from throwing your life away."

"I have to do this," Sokka said, getting to his feet. "It was my plan which Dad was following, so it's my fault that he got captured. If I had just cut my losses when I first felt that something was going wrong, they would have all made it out fine. I need to rescue my father, Zuko. I need my honor back. You can't stop me."

"I know all about 'getting your honor back'," Zuko said. "And I know _you_ can't do it alone."

"Because I'm not a bender?" Sokka asked, annoyed.

"Because nobody should have to undertake an insane, poorly planned rescue attempt for somebody that they love alone," Zuko answered. Sokka gaped. "If you're doing this, then I'm coming with you."

"It was my mistake, I'll fix it on my own," Sokka said stubbornly.

"And how are you going to do it?" Zuko asked, tossing Sokka's bag down and vaulting down after it. "How are you going to approach a mountaintop which has unobstructed views in every direction, on the back of a ten tonne..."

"Twelve tonne."

"Twelve tonne flying fuzzy beast?" Zuko asked. "And once you get there, what are you going to do with him? It's too high for him to find anything to eat, and he's too big to just hide in the snow. What are you going to do?"

"I don't know, I'll come up with it when I get there," Sokka said.

"Agni's blood, and Iroh says _I_ don't plan things through," Zuko muttered. "Up in the forest, I have a War Balloon. One is just as good as any other, so nobody will suspect us until we're at the gates. After that... well, I hope you're good at improvising."

"The very finest," Sokka said. He pondered for a moment. He had brought everything he thought he'd need; his pen, just in case; his 'firebender rig'; glue for metal, rock, wood, or bone; food; water; his boomerang; and his Space Sword. A few other odds and ends. Some of that rope that he'd stolen from Zuko almost two years ago. It was _very_ good rope. "We shouldn't waste any more time. Make sure to leave Momo behind."

"This isn't Momo," Zuko said, and the lemur let out a chatter and flew away. Huh. More lemurs. At least that meant if Sokka had eaten Momo before Aang adopted him, he wouldn't have necessarily been wiping out a species. The two moved _back_ across the temple, to where Zuko had originally left his rope ladder into the temple. It wasn't until they were above the precipice that either thought to speak again. "So how are we going to explain this to the others? Won't they be a bit concerned that we're gone?" Zuko asked.

"I worked that out," Sokka said. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Kinda."

"Right," Zuko said, suspicious. Zuko kept walking, but as he did, he started to hum a song. Sokka's eyebrow shot up. That was an extremely familiar song, one he hadn't heard since Ba Sing Se. Sokka kept listening, and the words started to come back to him.

"_Luckless Lu, never much of a lover / found her husband in the arms of her mother..._"

Zuko stopped, his eyes snapping wide and turning to Sokka. "It was you!" he shouted. "After that disastrous date with Jin!"

"It was you!" Sokka shouted at virtually the same time. "In Ba Sing Se! When I got blasted in that bar with Lilac!"

"But..." then Zuko's shock dissolved into a fit of laughter. It was weird seeing Zuko laugh like that. The last time Sokka beheld such a spectacle it was because some pirates who had betrayed Zuko lost their ship over a waterfall. "Iroh was right. Destiny is a _funny_ thing."

Sokka couldn't help but join him, and the two were still chuckling when they reached Zuko's landed craft. Sokka inelegantly heaved his bag of miscellany into the basket, and was surprised by a yelp of alarm. Sokka let out a shout, his sword and boomerang coming instantly to hand. Zuko dropped into a fighting stance.

Their alarm proved pointless, because it was Ty Lee's head which popped up over the edge. "What was that for? I was having a nap!" she said.

"But... I left you back in..."

"You're not going anywhere without me, Loverboy," Ty Lee said. She held up the letter that Sokka had left behind. "_Need more meat. Be back in a few days, Sokka_?" she asked. "Did you really think I would fall for that?"

"I'm surprised you're even awake," Sokka said. "I mean, after we're _done_, you're dead to the world."

"I _was_ sleeping in here," she pointed out. "And I'm coming with you."

"You don't even know where we're going," Zuko said.

"Sokka gets chatty when we're making love," she said simply. Zuko stared at Sokka, who felt himself going red with embarrassment.

"It's a good thing Azula's going to stay a virgin for _a while_," Zuko muttered. "If she got her hands on you, we'd all be _sunk_," Zuko threw his own things into the War Balloon. "So how are you going to explain _your_ absence?"

Ty Lee quickly grabbed one of Sokka's pens and added to the message. Sokka read it. It would do. "Just get me close to our room, and they'll find it in the morning. Come on! Let's go save Hakoda!"

"This is going to be a long trip, isn't it?" Sokka asked.

* * *

Aang stretched and yawned, rubbing his eyes and running a hand over his head. Stubble was already growing in on his scalp, but he really didn't feel like shaving it. Ever since the Invasion, he wasn't feeling very Avatar-y. He got up, and walked out into the halls. "So, am I going to be breathing and feeling the sun again?" Aang said toward Zuko's room. Zuko was always up with the sunrise. But this time, no response came from the room. Aang quickly ducked his head in. There was a picture of General Iroh resting near the bed, and some documents in a very secure looking case, but the firebending prince was nowhere to be found.

Aang wondered where Zuko could have hidden himself. But with the prince not demanding of his time before breakfast, maybe that would mean he'd get to eat before, for once. He made his way down to the fountain plaza, where this time Haru was cooking beans and bacon. Luckily, by Aang's request, he did it on two skillets instead of just one. "Has anybody seen Zuko?" Aang asked.

"Not today," Haru said, dishing out some beans for Aang. "But I haven't exactly been paying attention."

Aang understood. Breakfast was an important meal, one that needed to be cared for, or else ruined. Nearby, Toph was sitting next to Teo. "Hey," she said with forced casualness. "Do you think you and I could talk a bit?"

"Can't," Teo said around his food. "Eating."

Toph scowled at that. Aang couldn't help but smile. He moved on, and found Katara doing some of her most basic waterbending Katas near the water; the push and pull, making a tide in the fountain. She did it with one hand, as she ate bacon with the other. He loved the woman, but he was going to have to see if he could do something about the meat-eating. "What about you? Have you seen Zuko?"

"He's gone," Katara said. "Went out looking for meat with Sokka."

"What?" Aang asked. Katara reached into her underparka and pulled out a note.

_Need more meat. Gone with Zuko and Ty Lee to get some. Be back in a few days. Sokka_.

Aang frowned. His firebending master left to get meat with Sokka and Aang's airbending student? He noticed a bit on the other side, so he flipped it over and kept reading.

_Continue breathing exercises and manipulating existing fire sources. Zuko_.

"Great," Aang muttered sarcastically. "Homework."

* * *

The trip was every bit as long as Sokka had predicted. Although, it wasn't anywhere as annoying as Zuko had feared. He was afraid that it would be all happy exclamations with every turn from Ty Lee, and dumbass comments from Sokka, but instead, she slept, and he kept quiet. After a long while, she finally stirred awake. Sokka was right. She _was_ dead to the world after sex. The War Balloon kept quietly chugging away through the sky.

"Pretty clouds," Ty Lee said, her head over the edge of the basket, her braid dangling behind her, as she stared up.

"Yeah," Zuko said, sitting near the furnace. "Fluffy."

He stoked the flames, keeping the balloon in the air. He was interrupted when he heard a whistling noise, and he turned. Sokka was trying to get the tune to Luckless Lu, but he could whistle about as well as everybody else said he could draw.

"What?" Zuko asked.

"Oh, nothing," Sokka said. He leaned back in the basket. "You know, I practically invented these things. Me and a friend of mine."

"Good for you," Zuko said, making sure the fires still burned properly.

"Yup. A balloon. But for war," Sokka shook his head.

"If there's one thing Ozai is good at, it's war," Zuko agreed, distractedly.

"It seems to run in the family," Ty Lee said quietly. Almost sadly.

"Not everybody is like that," Zuko said.

"I know, I know, you've changed," Sokka said.

"I was talking about Iroh."

"Your uncle?" Ty Lee asked. Zuko stared at the fire.

"For five years, _he_ was my father," Zuko said. "The father that Ozai never was. And I let him down," Zuko said.

"He's proud of you," Ty Lee said. "I know what you're doing right now would make him full to bursting."

"Besides, coming with us wasn't that hard," Sokka said.

"You don't know that," Zuko said. "Every day, I wake up in a cold sweat thinking that I didn't protect her well enough. That he took out revenge on me, through her."

"Azula?" Ty Lee asked. Zuko stared at the airbender girl like she'd lost her mind.

"Mai," Zuko said. She let out an 'ooooh'. But Sokka got a confused look.

"Wait, that gloomy girl who sighs a lot?" Sokka asked.

Zuko couldn't help but smile at the recollection of her. "Yeah," he said dreamily. Sokka looked a little down for a moment. "The only way I could keep her safe was by leaving her behind. But I don't think it's much safer back in Sozin City right now. I am a traitor and a royal bastard after all."

"A royal bastard? They got that right," Sokka said, bursting into laughter.

"Sokka," Ty Lee said. He eventually came to a stop. "I know how you feel, Zuko."

Sokka's laughter, once gone, seemed to lead to a dark place. "So do I," he said. He sighed, as though burdened. "My first girlfriend turned into the moon."

Zuko stared at Sokka. Then, he looked at Ty Lee, who was patting his hand comfortingly. Were they all insane? Unable to come up with anything more salient or intelligent to say, he simply responded "Yeah, that's rough, buddy," in a tone of voice flat enough to come from Mai herself.

Time passed, and day became night; Sokka lay next to Ty Lee. She held close to him for warmth. Zuko provided all the warmth that he himself would ever need. They rose up, passing above the level of the clouds, and toward the mountain. The peak was still high above, but he knew he couldn't head straight there. Sokka was right. The Tribesman was good at coming up with plans on the fly, and the first one required Zuko's unique talents.

Leaving the craft hovering, he dropped a line over the side, and quickly rappelled down, landing silently on the cold earth. From this point upward, the mountain was all snow; it was from this mountain range that every chip of ice in the Fire Nation was hewn. He slipped through the outpost, usually the first stop for anybody approaching. In the night, nobody could see the red craft against the black sky. Red became black in darkness. Zuko slipped through the uppermost floors, the least defended or guarded. A part of him wished he still had his spirit mask, but that was from another time.

Zuko crept past the rooms holding sleeping soldiers and guards, and into the armory. He looked around, seeing if he could find everything that he needed. Almost, but not quite. He got a notion, then moved deeper, down into the belly of the building, to the morgue. It was distasteful to pilfer the dead, but this prisoner had no need of his vestments. Zuko did. A shadow moved in the darkness, and Zuko was gone, vanishing from the small fort with nobody the wiser that he had ever been there.

Zuko climbed the rope, hauling his cargo behind him. They would continue the rest of the way in the morning, and would go no higher tonight. He couldn't risk Sokka getting altitude sickness. Not yet, anyway. He settled his things into the basket, near where Sokka and Ty Lee were asleep. Wait a second. Ty Lee couldn't be asleep. She never slept.

"Yeah, I'm awake," Ty Lee said quietly.

"I guessed so," Zuko said.

"Are you sure this is the best way to do this?" she asked, not moving from Sokka's snoring form.

"Sokka's plan might work," Zuko said. "But if you don't want to do it, I'm not going to force you. I could do it myself."

"No, they'd ship you to Ashfall in a heartbeat," Ty Lee said. "I know my part in this. I'll do it."

"Thank you," Zuko said. Then, everything that needed saying said, they waited for the morning.

* * *

Yun looked over another set of reports. He knew what would be on them. Another prisoner died of 'altitude sickness', his possessions vanished into the prison population before anybody reported it. It made his job a bit easier; if there was nothing to be cataloged, that much less paperwork. He took a drink of his tea, glancing up when he heard somebody approaching his door. He had already leaned back in his chair by the time the door began to rattle as somebody knocked on it.

"What is the meaning of this?" Yun asked.

"New prisoner, Warden," a voice came from the other side. It had a distinct Azuli accent, which was something of a relief. The guards out of Ember were being particularly uppity the last few years. "I was told I should bring her to you for sign off."

"Very well," Yun said. Protocol had to be followed, or the entire operation of Avalanche would fall into chaos. He prided himself on the fact that the prison was utterly inescapable. The very geography conspired against any escape attempts; between the thin air and brutally cold temperatures, it seemed almost a cruelty to bring people here. The door opened, and two guards, wearing their gaudy – but not without purpose – yellow armor, flanking a girl in a red jumper. The guards pushed her to her knees in front of the desk. "And who is this?" Yun asked.

"A traitor," the Azuli guard said. "Caught giving information to the enemy."

Yun rose, and stepped around his desk. "You're new here, so I'm going to say this once. I don't doubt you've heard all of the horrible things that they say about Avalanche. They don't need to be true. As long as you do everything I say, and don't interrupt the orderly operation of this prison, you will find that it can be quite accommodating. Most people who survive the first week often find that they can live out the rest of their sentence in relative ease. And for a young woman such as yourself, you have a great deal of leverage to find yourself a comfortable living in here.

"What?" the girl asked. Then it seemed to dawn on her what he was implying, and she moved back against her guards, a little afraid. They held her in place.

"Don't worry. It isn't so bad as that," Yun said. "Every woman in this prison is 'married', and unseemly behavior with another man's wife is a sure way to turn up dead one morning. Accept your sentence and your punishment, and you'll be out in as little as twenty years."

The girl's eyes went to the floor. "But... I didn't..."

"Look me in the eye when I'm talking to you," Yun said. She slowly did. "I know who you are, Ty Lee Baihu. The traitor who fought against the Fire Nation with the Avatar. Consider yourself fortunate you landed in my care. I know of a few other wardens who would not have given you the kind chance that I am. Many, in fact."

"Shall we take her away, Warden?" the other guard asked.

"Do," Yun said. He moved back into his seat. "Ty Lee Baihu," he said. "Such a pity about your parents."

The girl's brown eyes went wide. "My parents?" she asked, pulling against the guard. One of them lost hold on her, but the other dragged her away. "What happened to my parents?"

He felt no need to answer, because she was already being pulled out of the room. It didn't stop her from yelling the question a few more times, though. The door was finally closed by his assistant, and he pondered a moment. He gathered his brush and began to write a letter. If he recalled correctly, his niece would greatly want to know about this development. It had been such a long time since he'd seen family.

* * *

"That was hair-raising," Sokka muttered. "I thought he was going to see through us in a heartbeat."

"We weren't gasping for breath like most infiltrators would be," Zuko said. "Good job on that, by the way."

"I used to go all the way to the top of Mount Sila, trying to find the Treasure of Benesaq when I was a kid. It was about as high as this one," Sokka said proudly.

"Why were you looking for treasure? Where would you spend it?" Zuko asked. Sokka pondered that. He hadn't considered that at the time, and in retrospect, it was a bit of a foolish thing to do.

"Guys," Ty Lee said, now finally freed from her shackles. "What do you think he meant about my parents?"

"I don't know," Zuko said. "Maybe he was just saying that to keep you rattled and willing to comply. Wardens tend to keep psychological ammunition on their prisoners. It keeps them in line."

"We don't have time to worry about this," Sokka cut in. "We need to find my dad and get him out of here."

"Where would we even look?" Zuko asked. "I mean, this is a prison. It's not like we can just knock on doors."

"We have an insider and we're guards. We _can_ knock on doors, as long as we make it seem official," Sokka pointed out. Zuko nodded.

"Fine. Then everybody should stay out of trouble and meet over there after dinner call. Everybody nodded, but Ty Lee looked distracted. She would have to disregard what the Warden said to her. It was probably just some mind game. Sokka, though, began a circuit of the prison.

It was far smaller than he'd expected. In all, it was not much larger than his village, back home, and built in a similar fashion. There was a wall, cut from stone and covered in ice and snow. Built into that wall were the cells and prison infrastructure, which had to be brutally cold. Especially to a civilization of people as perpetually hot as the Fire Nation. The only gate to the outside world was tiny, and built to be defended. He kept checking things, seeing what could offer him an advantage, but he was shocked to see that very little did.

It was almost a perfect prison. But _almost_ wasn't good enough to keep a genius from the South Water Tribe inside. He just had to find the way. He also noticed a spire in the center of the yard, one that he couldn't see the top of; it was as though this was the true peak of the mountain, all the rest trimmed away to make it more prison-y. He walked around the yard, abandoned though it was, feeling that familiar cold against his skin. It was just like being back home. For the first time in months, he wasn't sweating.

Sokka heard some voices talking loudly in one of the nearby wooden 'houses', swamped under a heavy load of snow. Sokka peeked inside. A woman, dressed in the same red jumper as Ty Lee, was standing, her back to a wall, and a pair of guards were standing uncomfortably close to her.

"I'm just saying, he's not going to be out of solitary until tomorrow. And what he doesn't know won't hurt him," the guard said.

"I won't," she said, her face defiant even in her fear. "If you want anything from me, you're going to have to take it."

"Well," the other said, "I always did prefer a spirited woman, myself."

Sokka moved through the door and slammed it shut behind him. All eyes turned to him. In a blinding instant, his desire to not raise a snit vanished under his inborn instinct to always protect a woman in need. "What are you doing here?" Sokka asked, keeping his voice level and low.

"What? Do you want a bit of time with her too? Well, you'd best take advantage now. She's nice and fresh, and her man's nowhere to get in the way," the first guard said. Sokka very calmly reached behind him and drew out his Space Sword. All eyes now fell on it.

"You're going to walk away," Sokka said. "This isn't our job. You're breaking the rules. Now leave. And if I ever see you doing this again..."

"What are you going to do? Tell on us to the Warden?" the second said, but the first was trying to pull him back.

"He'd have our jobs! He might throw us in here with these people!" the first said.

"Leave. Now," Sokka said.

"You know what," the second said. "Let's just forget this ever happened, alright?"

"Yeah, no reason to piss off the sword-wielding Azuli screw."

The two 'guards' made their way past Sokka and out the door. He stared hatefully at them the whole way. He turned back, and the woman hadn't moved from the wall. She was a fairly pretty woman, a few years older than Sokka. She was golden eyed, but her face was marred by burns on the right side, which she tried to keep covered with her hair. "What do _you_ want from me?" she asked.

"I'm just doing my job," Sokka lied. It wasn't his job. It was his duty as a man. She seemed to finally relax a bit. She sat on the stool in front of the fire. "Are you going to be alright?"

"They'll be back," she said.

"Not until tomorrow," Sokka said. "And by then, they'll have other, bigger problems."

"Why are you doing this?" she asked.

"Where I come from, any man who does what those people were doing has a block of stone tied to his manhood with chains and is thrown off a boat. We do give him a knife, though," Sokka said. The Tribes had no time for rapists. She stared at him for a moment, as though something he said sat oddly with her. He gave the woman a nod. "Ma'am."

Sokka left. That would probably bite him in the blubber, but he could as well do nothing as stop breathing. He had to keep looking. Dad had to be around here somewhere.

* * *

Ty Lee was fine with the lack of air. She quickly discovered under Aang's tutelage that airbenders didn't need very much in order to breathe. But the cold? That cut right through her. She had no idea how people were supposed to survive with nothing but this red jumper and sparse habitats. She wandered around, always keeping her eyes wide open. This was a unisex prison. Just about every personal horror would probably take place here. And she had no intention of becoming a prison wife to anybody here.

She pondered a moment. Prison wife was much more literal in a place like this than it would be in others. She continued to walk, peeking through windows as she moved by cells, by the wooden houses. Some of them held both men and women. Others, just men. None of them were women alone. She could guess why. She was peeking into a window, when she accidentally walked into a man. She bounced off, landing on her rump, and looked up. Well up.

"You should be more careful where you walk," the very large man said. This guy had to be as big as Combustion Man. A great deal more talkative, though.

"I'm sorry," Ty Lee said.

"You're new here, aren't you?" the large man said.

"Yes?" she said.

He reached down and pulled her up to her feet. "Then you shouldn't be wandering around. It's not safe out here for a woman like you."

Ty Lee considered quickly paralyzing the man, but doing that out here would be as good as murder. If she needed to, it was always an option. She was a very hard woman to pin down or disarm. He guided her, quite gently, actually, to a building, and motioned her inside. The house was larger than some she'd seen, and had a higher ceiling. Appropriate considering the gargantuan man who lived here.

"Make yourself comfortable," the man said. "The missus is due back down from solitary at noon. She takes special interest in new prisoners."

"Are you... helping me?" she asked. The large man shrugged. "Why?"

"I'm not a bad man," he said. "I just got thrown here for being born in the wrong place, at the wrong time."

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Chit Sang," he said.

"Ty Lee," she offered her own, knowing that no further damage could be done. He seemed to be fine with that. "Why are you here?"

"I didn't want to join the army," he said. "All firebenders of a certain level of strength have to join the army. If you don't, you're a traitor. So when I got pressganged, I went AWOL. They caught me, and now I'm here."

"Why did you run?" she asked. The only firebenders she'd seen outside of the army were the animal trainers in her circus. Chit Sang leaned a bit closer and peeled down an eyelid. His eyes were bright green. Only people of East Continent descent would have that shade.

"Like I said, I was born the wrong thing in the wrong place. If I'd been born anywhere else, nobody would look twice at me. I'd probably be an earthbender, or something. That's destiny for you. So what'd you do to get sent here?"

"I slept with the Princess, then didn't say thank you in the morning," Ty Lee said. Technically true, too, which made it all the more funny. Chit Sang just chuckled and shook his head.

"Fine, when you feel like telling me, you will," he said. "Come on. Have some tea. I won't be a bad host."

"You're a nice man for a prisoner."

"And you're a smartass for a prisoner," Chit Sang said. But Ty Lee decided to enjoy her tea and wait for this massive firebender's missus to return. If nothing else, having another set of eyes, his, would make her part of the search a bit faster.

Eventually, after several hours talking of living in Burning Rock or the strange things one encounters as part of a circus, the door swung open, and somebody was ducking into the room. "Well, I was wondering if they were going to let you back out," Chit Sang said. "What did you do? Insult the guards so they took their time letting you loose?"

"Every chance I get," the newcomer said. Chit Sang was a very large man. And he seemed to have attracted himself a woman of similar attribute. She was very tall, easily as tall as Chit Sang if not even more, and powerfully built for a woman. Her hair was auburn, and her eyes a smokey blue-green. Ty Lee's eyes went wide.

"Suki?" she asked. The leader of the Kyoshi Warriors turned, just about to plant a kiss on Chit Sang's face, and her own eyes went wide.

"Ty Lee?" she asked. The airbender smiled, but Suki launched herself across the room, fists leading. Ty Lee ducked under the blows, around the attacks. Ty Lee understood the reaction, even if she'd been hoping for a kinder one. It _was_ Ty Lee's fault that Suki was here. Ty Lee dodged Suki's attacks, but Suki seemed to be expecting her to lash out with her Dim Mak strikes. Ty Lee had no intention of fighting back. Eventually, Suki's massive arsenal of martial techniques surmounted Ty Lee's superlative balance and acrobatics, and Suki tripped Ty Lee onto the floor. Ty Lee answered with a panicked blast of airbending, straight into the the center of Suki's chest. The larger woman flew off of the airbender and smashed into the far wall. Chit Sang interposed himself between the two women, which was possibly the dumbest thing a human being could ever do.

"What the hell are you two doing?" he shouted. Suki looked a little shocked, rubbing her back where she hit the wall.

"_How did you do that, girl?_" Suki asked in Tianxia.

"_I'm an airbender now. It's a very long story_," Ty Lee answered. "_Are you alright? I hope I didn't hurt you. I'm very new at this_."

Suki scowled for a moment, turning her gaze to Chit Sang. He wisely backed off. "An airbender? No wonder they threw you in here."

"Well, technically I didn't get thrown in here," she said, playing nervously with her fingers, "so much as I came in here to break somebody out."

Suki stared at Ty Lee for a moment. "It wouldn't just happen to be me, would it?"

"I didn't even know you were here," Ty Lee admitted. Her eyes moved to her feet. "I'm sorry for what I did to you. I was just so afraid. That was the only thing I could think of that would keep Azula from killing you."

"A convenient excuse," Suki said. Ty Lee glanced up at her. "But I know you believe it. It hasn't been easy, Ty Lee. I don't know if I can trust you."

"That's alright," Ty lee said. "I've gotten a lot of experience re-earning people's trust in the last year. Yours is just about the last one I need to move on with a whole heart."

"You always were sentimental," Suki said. She sighed. "Who are you here for?"

"A Tribesman," Ty Lee said.

"I know the one," Suki said. "There's only one of them here."

Ty Lee brightened for a moment, but then she remembered what Sokka always said about circumstances which seemed too good to be true: frequently, they seemed so because they were. "Where is he?" she asked.

"Up in solitary," Suki said. "He's only been here a week and a half, and he's already been up there twice."

"How do I get up there?" she asked.

"Punch a guard in the face," Suki offered. "Of course, there's no telling how long you'd be up there. I'm guessing your 'escape plan' involves some sort of carefully timed airbending getaway, so it might not be the best idea."

"Yeah... I'm not much of an airbender yet," Ty Lee admitted. "I may have started two years ago, but I've only gotten proper lessons for the last few days."

"There's only one man who could teach you airbending," Suki said, her brow raising. Ty Lee nodded. "So, you're fighting on the right side again?"

"It took me a while," Ty Lee said. "But yes. I know there's some way to help Azula, but I just don't know what it is."

"A knife in the neck would be a start," Suki muttered.

"Suki!" Ty Lee said. Suki waved an apology.

"Look, I have a very good reason to dislike the girl. I'm not changing that because you're here to hear it."

Chit Sang finished a cup of tea. "So what's the big plan?" he asked.

"I've got a couple of people that I'm working with," she said. "Suki, try not to freak out when you see who they are."

"Why would I freak out?" Suki asked flatly.

"Just promise me."

* * *

Zuko was glad he wasn't doing any strenuous firebending, because it would have severely depleted him. The air up here was brutally thin, and any amount of exertion made him feel like he was eight again, just staring to learn the elemental martial arts. It was infuriatingly exhausting. Doubly so, because his entire day of wandering around had turned up exactly nothing.

Zuko slumped into his chair at the mess, picking at his food. After he was done, he'd head to that secluded spot. A couple of other guards plunked themselves down next to him. "You know you don't need to wear your helmet all the time, right?" one of the guards said.

Zuko glanced over at him. "But what happens if there's an incident? I could get struck on the head."

In truth, he just didn't want to take the helmet off because his face was one of the more recognizable in the Fire Nation nowadays. Being on the bad end of a smear-campaign instigated by the Fire Lord was never a pleasant experience. "Rookies," the other guard, a woman, said. "Give him a week, and he'll loosen up. It's not like much happens out here. It's too cold for them to put up much of a fight."

Zuko had to agree with that. Only his low, steady firebending of the breath of fire kept him able to move about. If Iroh hadn't taught him that, he would probably have just collapsed, shivering to death in a corner. "Can a rookie ask you veterans something?" Zuko asked.

"Don't date the female prisoners," the woman guard said. "The men get real territorial around them. It's just asking for trouble."

"Almost as much as dating the female guards," the other one butted in. The woman elbowed him in the ribs for his trouble.

"No, I was going to ask something else. This place is where they put all of the really dangerous prisoners, isn't it? Firebenders and such?"

"I wouldn't call them dangerous," the woman said. "Most of them ended up here without really deserving it."

"Fei, shush!" the man said. Fei shrugged.

"It's true. Political prisoners my right butt-cheek," she shook her head.

"What about war prisoners?" Zuko asked.

"Only the ones that they're trying to make an example of," Fei said. "Like that woman... where was she from? Kohi, Oshi?"

"Kyoshi."

"Thank you. She got brought her a while back for trying to fight the Princess over in the East Continent. Which doesn't make much sense. We _are_ at war with them. I think the Princess pulled some strings to put her in the worst place imaginable out of spite."

"You'd better not talk about the Princess," the man said. "That seldom ends well."

"Tell me about it," Zuko said quietly, rubbing the back of his neck. Azula did have a mean streak a continent long. "What about more recent?"

"Well, we've not had too many recently," the man said.

"There was that assassin, the child murderer and the Tribesman," Fei said. "Although the child murderer lasted about as long as you'd expect. Two days, and they find him lying dead in the courtyard, and of course, _nobody_ saw who did it. Good riddance."

"Tribesman?" Zuko asked.

"Yeah, the guy thought he could invade Sozin City during the eclipse," the man said. "Gotta say, much as I hate the damage he did, the man did have balls."

"What was his name?" Fei asked. "For some reason I want to say Hakoda."

"Sounds about right," he said. Both turned to him. "Come to think of it, it's feeding time. Fish, go feed Hakoda up in solitary!"

"Why do I have to do it?" Zuko asked.

"Crap rolls downhill," Fei said. "Get to it!"

Zuko silently thanked the universe for that little piece of providence. He now had a chance to make sure this entire trip wasn't a waste of time. He quietly got the food for Sokka's father and went to the spire which rose in the center of the prison. At its base was a door and a stairwell that spiraled upward in the heart of the stone. Zuko waited while a man next to a weakly guttering brazier unlocked the hatch leading up, then Zuko moved to the highest point on this mountain.

The view was stunning, in its way. Zuko could understand why that crazy Whaleshman, E Miu Hri, decided the climb the highest mountain in the Fire Nation. Zuko could see it from here, and it was a good bit higher than this one. He felt like he was on top of the world. Which he was, in a way. Solitary confinement wasn't very solitary. What it was, however, was cold and exposed to the elements. Only one man was up here right now, chained to one quadrant of the spire. He was stooped over, staring at the edge. Zuko's heart sank. What if he had frozen to death? It was bitterly cold up here.

"It's dinner time," Zuko said. The man turned slightly. So Hakoda was still alive. Zuko glanced back at the hatch, but it had been pulled closed. Zuko set down the tray, then pulled off his helmet. "Hakoda, I've got to tell you that..."

Zuko's words were cut off when Hakoda surged from his place bound to the floor, knocking Zuko from his feet. One dark-fleshed hand caught at the collar of Zuko's armor, and the other was pulled back for a hard strike to the face. "_I should have thought the Prince would come to gloat at some point_," Hakoda said in his own tongue.

"_Killing me would be doing Ozai a favor at this point,_" Zuko responded in kind. Hakoda looked a bit confused. "_I'm a traitor, now. We've come to get you out of here._"

"_You, Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, are going to break Hakoda, the nominal mastermind of the Black Sun Invasion, out of prison?_" Hakoda asked.

"_Your son was adamant that we try,_" Zuko said. Hakoda released Zuko, and moved back in his chains. "_He's here. So is Ty Lee. We're don't have a plan yet, but I think Sokka's coming up with something right now._"

"_Why are you doing this? What do you gain?_" Hakoda asked.

"_I have a lifetime of bad decisions to make up for. Helping your son is part of that,_" Zuko said. "_How much longer are you up here for?_"

"_They bring me back down in the morning,_" Hakoda said. "_Tell me, have you seen how Jei is doing? Is she alright?_"

"_I have no idea who that is,_" Zuko said. "_I'd better go. Sokka should hear that this trip hasn't been a waste of time._"

Hakoda stared hard at Zuko for a moment. "_This doesn't excuse what you did to my village, and to my family._"

"_I know,_" Zuko said quietly. "_But it's a start._"

As Zuko walked away, Hakoda spoke up once more. "_I'm surprised, that you would speak to me in my own, barbarian tongue._"

"_Who said it was barbarian?_" Zuko answered, before pounding on the door and descending the spire. He moved through the prison silently, heading to that spot where everybody had decided to meet. He ducked into that shadowed, secluded spot, pulling off his helmet. When his eyes adjusted to the darkness, they widened. There were others.

"What's going on with..." Zuko began, but he felt a large hand close around his throat, and he was lifted from his feet. A very strong, tall, and powerfully built woman was holding him to the wall, her other ham-hock of a fist pulled back to smash his head to pulp.

"Suki! Stop! He's with us!" Ty Lee said urgently. Suki glanced over.

"You're telling me that even though you're still running with the Fire Nation's royal family, you're now on the Avatar's side?" she asked.

"Weird things happen to us," Sokka said with a shrug. Suki sighed, then dropped Zuko on the ground.

"You're still going to pay for attacking my village," Suki muttered.

"I've been getting that exact reaction too many times today," Zuko said around coughs, trying to get air moving back into his body. "Sokka, your father is here, just like you thought."

Ty Lee immediately launched into a happy dance, which made everybody break off and stare at her, until she realized she was interrupting. "Sorry."

"He's not due to be let out of solitary until tomorrow," Zuko said. "That means we have until then, at least, to come up with a plan."

* * *

Ty Lee awakened to a boot in the stomach. She rolled away, clutching for her staff out of pure habit, but she remembered that Sokka and Zuko each had a piece of it, and that meant she was more or less unarmed right now. That still didn't make her in the least bit helpless. There were five guards in the room, four of which were staring sternly, and with weapons in hand, at Suki and Chit Sang.

"You're wanted," the guard said.

"I was sleeping," Ty Lee said. She felt awful. She hadn't slept like that, barring a rendezvous from her boyfriend, since she was a kid. And now, she had a headache. It must have something to do with the altitude. The guard reached toward her and she flailed her arm away. "I'm coming, I'm coming," she said. She shot a quick glance over to Suki, but she shook her head in caution. Ty Lee was escorted out of their cold little shack and into the even colder day. The sun was already climbing high. They'd let her sleep that late?

"Where are we going?" Ty Lee asked. The guard remained stoic as he dragged her back toward the largest toward in the wall, overlooking the gate. The last time she had been brought here, it was so she could get grilled by the Warden. For some reason, he looked very familiar to Ty Lee's eyes. Inside the tower, the cold gave way to plentiful heat, if nothing else. She was manhandled and shoved into a room with a basic wooden chair, rubbing her arm where she had been twisted.

"So now we see what becomes of traitors," Azula's voice came from behind the door. Ty Lee turned, and she stared downward.

"I was doing what I knew in my heart was right," Ty Lee said.

"I could say that your heart should have listened to your brain, but that probably wouldn't have helped you very much," Azula said, her voice cold. A stolen glance showed that Azula didn't look so good. Her features were drawn, her eyes puffy and tired. She looked like she woke up in the middle of the night and came straight to Avalanche from Sozin City. Then again, considering the distance involved and the amount of time elapsed, it was quite possible that was exactly what happened.

"You could still join us," Ty Lee said. "You're a good person, Azula. I know that deep down you can feel that. You have a destiny, I can feel it. Please. Just..."

"Enough," Azula said, cutting the air with her hand. A blade of blue hot flame followed her fingers. Ty Lee fell back a bit. "You are weak and useless. I should have blasted you to ash on the docks of Ember Island."

"Azula..."

"No," Azula said. "No more 'pleading for my humanity', no more 'offering me redemption', Ty Lee. I don't need anything you're offering me, and I don't want it. You keep _begging_ me to trust you. But you and I both know that it's just so that you can dig yourself in a little deeper. You've always envied my power, haven't you?"

"Envy your... Azula, what are you talking about?" Ty Lee. Azula advanced, and Ty Lee bounded back onto the back of the chair. Azula stared up at her, anger in her eyes.

"All this time, from when we were children, you've been laying the groundwork, haven't you? Just pecking and pecking away at me, until you could reach right into my beating heart and tear it out for your own sadistic amusement! Well I'm not going to be your victim, Ty Lee! I know you never loved me! Nobody can ever–" Azula stopped suddenly, as though she hadn't meant to say as much as she did.

"I didn't want to hurt you," Ty Lee said, hopping off the back of the chair, keeping it between her and the Princess. "I never intended to. Azula, you were my _first_ _friend_. I loved you more than anybody. I still do. Why are you so angry?"

"You betrayed me," Azula said acidicly. Ty Lee hung her head.

"I know," she answered. "And I'm so sorry, Azula. I really am. But I have to walk this path. This is my destiny, now. That doesn't mean it can't be yours, too."

"Spare me your mindless spiritualism. You always were one to put everything into the hands of chance. And look what it got you. You are now the prisoner you should always have been. And not a moment too soon. Your treasonous acts seem to be in your very blood."

"What does that mean?" Ty Lee asked.

"Don't be coy," Azula said, walking around the chair, its wooden frame smoking under her fingernails. "We both know who set this whole thing up. Us meeting. Our... friendship. That little encounter before you mysteriously join the circus and vanish into the world. It was all a grand scheme to put you into a position where you could destroy me."

"Azula, I never wanted to hurt you. I swear!"

"You are _lying_!" Azula shouted. "You have always been lying to me! Just like you always knew the day would come that you'd betray me!"

Ty Lee backed up against a wall. It would be so easy to just run away. But more than just the safety of her boyfriend's father hung in the balance. Ty Lee could tell that Azula's mind was in just as much peril. "You didn't trust me?" Ty Lee asked.

"Trust is a trap!" Azula shouted. "It's something that people like you use to manipulate! That's the only way anything is! That's the only relationship people can ever have! The manipulator and the subservient! Well, I won't be your slave, Ty Lee Baihu," Azula's eyes seemed to be staring somewhere else. "Nothing you ever did mattered! It was all lies!"

Azula was standing right in front of Ty Lee. Raging. Railing. Almost as though she were on the verge of crying. Ty Lee reached forward, grabbing Azula's face, and dragged it to her own, a deep kiss that she pulled up from the core of her being, to her battered, weary friend. Azula let out a clipped yell of surprise, before softening, just for an instant. But that instant was just that, an instant. Then, Azula's hand came up and pulled hard at Ty Lee's braid, dragging Azula out of Ty Lee's grasp. Azula's eye twitched and her lipstick was smudged, and she was utterly, utterly speechless.

"I still love you, Azula," Ty Lee said, with great honesty. "That never changed. I still want what's best for you."

"You don't love me," Azula said, her shocked expression shifting to something harder, more cold. "Nobody can."

"Azula..."

"You are going to stay here," Azula said, her voice growing louder with every word. "In this prison, for the rest of your life. Until the day you _ROT_!"

Azula turned and stalked away, blue fire searing out of her mouth with every breath. After she left, the door slammed behind her, so hard that it bounced back open. The guards looked inside, then back at the Princess. "Agni's blood. Remind me never to kiss that woman."

* * *

"It's been good to see you," Uncle Yun said. "It's been so long since I've been able to talk with family."

Mai let out a breath, trying to hold in her boredom for the sake of appearance. It was a habit which had been instilled into her at a very young age. "Right. Well, if you wanted to talk to my parents, just scratch off a letter to New Ozai. I'm sure they'd _love_ to hear from you."

"Right, Fu Yin would want to speak to his brother the jailer," Yun shook his head, rubbing his pockmarked face. He still smiled a bit. "I'm glad that you turned out well, though. I know that Fu Yin's wife can be a bit of a pain."

"You don't know the half of it. I'm going for a walk," she said.

"If you were anybody but you, I'd say 'not a chance in hell'. Just stay out of trouble," Yun said. At least he understood that when it came to non-benders, Mai was about as dangerous as the rest of this prison combined.

Mai recalled something that bore investigation. But as she moved downward, she saw Azula slam a door hard enough that it couldn't latch, bouncing back open. From the noise she was making, she'd been doing the same to every door she came across. Azula's lipstick was smudged. Mai made very sure not to raise an eyebrow at that. "Did you speak to Ty Lee?" Mai asked, already knowing the answer.

"She should die a horrible death for what she did," Azula ranted. "This will be the next best thing."

"As you say, Princess Azula," Mai said neutrally. Azula seemed prepared to storm past, but paused.

"Something is not right here," Azula said. "I can feel it. And we're staying until I know what it is. I will be meditating in the airship with Master Jeong Jeong if you need me."

Mai didn't respond to that. She just walked, leaving the warmth of the tower. She pulled the fur-lined hood of her cloak up high. She, unlike Azula, had something to fear of the cold, and she didn't want to have to suffer for it any more than she absolutely had to. She walked down the stairwell which moved with the wall, narrow and plunging steeply. When she reached the bottom, she pointed to a pair of guards.

"You two. I require an escort," she said. The two guards exchanged a glance, but followed her. She moved through the prison, until she found a building which by the records she momentarily noticed on Uncle Yun's desk currently stood empty. She stopped before the door, and pointed. "Unlock it."

The guards moved around her, and fiddled with the door, before it swung open. She grabbed both helmets and smashed them together, before throwing both stunned guards into the room. These particular doors were remotely locked, and this one was broken, thus, uninhabited. She strode in after the impostors. One of them rose up a bit, reaching for a sword, but Mai hurled down a pair of stilettos. One yanked the bracer down to the ground, and the other landed just above his ear, wedged inside his helmet, a silent guarantee of her personal accuracy.

"I didn't think I'd find you here," Mai said. "Zuko."

"What are you talking about?" the pinned guard said. "Zuko is a traitor to the..."

"I wasn't talking to you, Sokka," Mai said. She turned back to Zuko. It had only taken her an instant to recognize them both. But then again, she knew one as well as he knew himself, and as for the other, she seldom forgot a man who threw her into the mud.

"Oh, crap. We're sunk," Sokka muttered, finally abandoning the over-done Azuli accent. Zuko, though, pushed himself back up a wall, pulling off his helmet.

"What are you doing here?" Zuko asked. Mai frowned.

"Ty Lee is a prisoner here. As soon as Azula learned that, she grabbed the fastest airship and flew out. In the middle of the night. You know full well how little I enjoy being woken up in the middle of the night," Mai said.

"Yeah," Zuko admitted. Mai rolled her eyes. "So how did you know I was here?"

"Because I know you so well," Mai said. Zuko leaned back a bit. "No, I didn't know you were here, you idiot. Besides, if Uncle knew that he had the Dark Prince in his prison, don't you think you'd have gotten a visit from your father instead?"

"Ozai _is not_ my father," Zuko said angrily.

"Good to see everybody's on the same page," Mai said. "And what the hell were you thinking? Leaving in the day of the eclipse? And that note! You've got to be kidding me," she pulled it out of her sleeve. It had a few holes in it where she threw knives at it for a few hours out of anger, but it was still completely legible. "Dearest Mai, I'm so sorry you had to find out this way, but I'm leaving..."

"It's not what it looks like," Zuko said.

"Really?" Mai shouted. "I thought I knew you, Zuko, but when you vanish and the Fire Lord wants you dead, I find this? You rip my heart out with a letter, and not even a very eloquent one. Just 'sorry, nice to know you, thanks for the sex and the fruit tarts, but I'm going to get myself killed with the enemy, now'!" Zuko sighed, hanging his head. "Couldn't you even look me in the eye when you wanted to say goodbye to me?"

"No," Zuko said quietly. "I was just trying to keep you safe."

"Safe?" Mai asked. "Safe from what?"

"Ozai," Zuko said. He pointed at the scar on his eye. "We both know full well how petty he can be. If he knew that he could still hurt me through you, he wouldn't hesitate for a second. And the only way he'd believe me is if you believed it yourself."

"You're an idiot," Mai said.

"Yeah, he really is," Sokka agreed quite readily. Mai let another stiletto slip into her fingers.

"Do you want a pierced ear?" Mai asked. "Talk again if you do."

"I never wanted to hurt you," Zuko said quietly.

"Well, you did."

"I'm just trying to do what's right," Zuko added.

"You see, that's the worst part," Mai said. "I know why you're doing this. I understand your motivation. Did you ever think for a second that maybe, if you had _asked_, I might have gone with you?"

Zuko seemed to pale. "You would have?" he asked.

"Of course I would!" Mai said. "I still love you, you idiot!"

Sokka opened his mouth, no doubt to say something glib. He then saw her tighten her grip on the stiletto, and wisely chose to remain silent. "Wow. I _am_ an idiot," Zuko muttered, leaning against a wall.

"Look, whatever you're doing here, whatever you're trying to achieve coming to this place, I don't care. Just keep me out of it," Mai turned and walked toward the door. "And take care of Ty Lee. She's not that bright, but she has a good heart."

From behind her, as Mai walked away, she heard the two men speak. "Tui La, that's some woman you've got there," Sokka muttered.

"You've got no idea, buddy," Zuko responded.

* * *

"Well, that was uncomfortable," Zuko said.

"Uncomfortable? She put a knife through my ARMOR!" Sokka countered.

"Never pick a fight with an Azuli woman. She'll mess you up," Zuko said. He looked at the darkly clad woman, the most hopelessly wistful expression coming to his face. Sokka found the whole thing a bit bizarre, but then again, he'd just never considered Zuko the romantic type. More of the 'I will destroy you and everything you love' type. It wasn't until Sokka met the man's sister that he got a full understanding of _that_ category of people.

"Come on, we can't stick around here. Dad's getting released any minute now," Sokka said, dragging the love-struck Dark Prince away from the knife-wielding gloomy-girl. It wasn't until Sokka broke line-of-sight that Zuko got his head back in the game. "Snap out of it. I've got a plan, but it might be a bit messy."

"That sounds about right," Zuko said, making sure that his helmet was lashed on tightly. The last thing anyone needed was for it to fall off and reveal his signature scars. In truth, it was probably the dirtiest plan that Sokka had ever come up with, but then again, considering his track record with more intricate plans, it was about time that he tried his hand at utter improvisation. The last plan of his that went off well was when he took down the drill in Ba Sing Se.

Zuko took a position near the entrance to the spire, and Sokka waited. The cold pressed down on him, and he breathed deep of the thin air. Sokka's mistake brought them all here. He hoped he just had enough in him to undo all the harm he'd done. Eventually, the door began to rattle, and swing open. Hakoda stooped through the low door, and Zuko moved to take his arm. Hakoda pulled it away.

"This way, prisoner," Zuko said. So he'd noticed the other guards nearby? Dad must have a bit of a 'fan club'. Zuko was moving to try again, when a dark haired woman came running out of one of the 'houses' nearby. She ran into Dad's arms, and was swept up into a short embrace. Sokka's eyes went wide. What the hell was Dad doing? "_Um, Hakoda, remember your son?_"

"What? Oh, right," Hakoda said. He motioned to the woman beside him. "She's coming too."

"_Are you insane? We were supposed to bring out one person, not four!_" Zuko muttered angrily. Sokka just remained still, not exactly understanding what he was seeing, as Dad and the woman and Zuko all came to that shadowed place away from prying eyes.

"Dad, what's going on?" Sokka asked as soon as Hakoda had entered the shade.

"Son, this is Jei," Hakoda said. "We met on the transport here."

"Agni's blood, it's you!" Jei, the woman, said. Sokka recognized her. She was the scarred woman from yesterday! "I knew I recognized you from somewhere."

"You met on the transport," Sokka said, still trying to get his head around it. "Wasn't that like nine days ago?"

"There was an instant connection," Hakoda said with a smirk and a shrug. Ah, the good old Water Tribe Charm.

"I know the feeling," Suki whispered behind him. He heard Chit Sang chuckle. Sokka, though, rubbed his forehead, trying to think.

"Alright. Original plan is out," he pondered for a long moment. "We need mattresses. At least two, but three would be safer."

"Mattress? Why?" Zuko asked.

"Ever go penguin sledding?" Sokka asked, then regretted it, because what Fire Nation Prince possibly would?

"Not for a _very_ long time," Suki muttered. Hakoda seemed to grasp the notion, though.

"I don't know if that's the best option," Hakoda said. "There's been a lot of snow up here since I arrived, and this place isn't called Avalanche without reason."

"Well, since a war balloon can't hold seven people, we've got to do something crazy," Sokka said. "Besides, maybe there's a way we can use the avalanche to our advantage."

"Seven?" Jei asked. "There's only six."

"Ty Lee got taken in by the guards earlier," Suki said. "I haven't heard from her since."

"Well, then it looks like my crazy new plan is going to need to happen a lot faster than my crazy old plan," Sokka said. "Suki, get those mattresses. We're in prison, so they're probably hard as a board. The harder the better. Zuko, you make sure we have a clear path over the wall."

"The fall would kill us," Zuko pointed out.

"Me, big-guy, and Dad, maybe. But you can do that explosion breaking thing, and Ty Lee's a goddamned airbender," Sokka turned to the Kyoshi Warrior. "And you? Well, I have no fears you can make it down safely."

"Such respect," Suki said. "Glad to know you aren't the misogynistic twerp you were when we met."

"Just how insane is this plan, son?" Hakoda asked.

"You _really_ don't want to know."

Sokka then sent everybody for their assigned tasks. He himself had one that was probably the most dangerous of all. Finding Ty Lee. He moved up the stairwell again, his heart hammering in his chest and not simply from the lack of oxygen. He could practically smell the threat in the air. He opened the door, and within three steps, found himself face to face with a very unamused looking older man. His hair was white and drawn back, his eyes flashing gold. He stared at Sokka for a long moment, his gaze brutally incisive. Sokka swallowed.

"You don't belong here, do you?" the old man asked. His shrewd eyes narrowed. "Azula was right. Something _is_ amiss in this prison. You are an impostor: the Tribesman!"

A few things ran through Sokka's head at that. First of all, the panicked reaction to hearing Azula's name spoken aloud, that she was here, twisted his guts. But that was secondary tot he fact that he'd somehow screwed up again. And all that fell behind one final layer of his mind, which screamed at Sokka to do something very stupid, very fast. And nobody was faster than a stupid Sokka.

Sokka's hand could have gone to his sword, but it was a long draw, and this man was probably a firebender. So instead, Sokka tore his boomerang out of its case and slashed up upward, toward the man's right eye. He flinched back just enough so that Sokka's attack tore a jagged weal up his face, but didn't lance the eye. Still, the old man fell backward, clutching his face, giving Sokka enough time to grab the sprig of beard and drag the old man's head into Sokka's own. Ordinarily, a headbutt is never a good idea. It always ends just as badly for both. But this time, Sokka was wearing a helmet.

The crack sounded, still causing Sokka to see stars, but the old man fell backward, a grunt issuing from his throat. His nose looked broken, and he moved sluggishly on the floor. Whoever the old guy was, he'd just retracted the time-frame for the escape from as long as they needed, to right frickin' now. Sokka ran through the tower, glancing through every door in turn that he came across. Only the ones which were closed or locked caught his attention. He peered into them through the slats. Some of them held interrogations. One of them was two of the guards having a liaison. Good for them. But one of them, just as he reached it, exploded open, sending him crashing to the floor.

"How come everybody has to do that just when I'm standing in front of a door?" Sokka asked. His vision cleared, and he beheld Ty Lee, standing above him, her fists prepared to jab the sensation out of him. But she hesitated, flicking up his visor. When she saw his face, she lit up. "Hey there, beautiful girl," Sokka said. Her expression became fearful.

"Sokka, we've got a problem. Azula is here," she said.

"Aware of that," Sokka said, getting to his feet. "Everybody's working on a new escape plan right now, which is good, because some old guy figured out that I'm not a guard... somehow."

"Old guy?" Ty Lee asked. "White hair, gold eyes, narrow beard and mustache?"

"You know him?"

"We've got to go," she said, fear now etched into her features. "Firemaster Jeong Jeong is every bit as dangerous as Azula."

Now there was another name to run away from very fast. "Well, he'll be out for a bit, but that means we have to leave now."

"What about your plan?"

"IMPROVISING!" Sokka shouted, as he kicked open the door leading the other direction out of the tower. This one lead upward, onto the walls. Zuko stared at him in confusion and a bit of annoyance.

"Aren't we trying to be subtle here?" Zuko asked.

"No time. Headbutted Jeong Jeong," Sokka said. "We need to leave now!"

"But what about the plan?"

"NEW PLAN!" Sokka said. He quickly reached under his armor, grabbing the fuel cell for his firebending rig. "This is going to come back and bite me, I just know it," Sokka muttered as he quickly turned the cell into a makeshift bomb. As the old saying went, give a man some tools, and he'll build you a house. Give a Tribesman some tools, and he'll blow it up. Hakoda's mixture for blasting jelly wasn't as destructive, but a great deal more stable, and had a lot more uses. Now, though, the explosion was what Sokka was looking for.

"What's going on over here?" a guard asked. Zuko tried to wave him off, but seeing a prisoner on the walls wouldn't be explained away. So when he reached for Ty Lee, Sokka hip-checked him off the wall. He let out a brief yell of surprise before hitting the roof of a building below, then rolling off to the ground.

"Yeah, we're sunk," Zuko muttered. Hakoda came running along the grounds, with a hard futon mattress behind him. He was passing it up when the sounds of yelling began to come from inside the tower.

"What's going on in there?"

"I might have given one of the most powerful people in the Fire Nation a new scar," Sokka said, helping his father, the mattress, and a scarred woman up onto the walls.

"Good for you," Hakoda said genuinely. "I knew you had it in you."

"So what's the new plan, again?" Suki said, appearing nearby in that way that she and other Kyoshi Warriors did. Sokka just looked over the wall, at the long drop, and then hurled his bomb over the edge. He waited. "Alright, what was that for?"

"Everybody, over the wall," Sokka said, pulling out half of Ty Lee's glider staff. Zuko pulled out the other. "Ty Lee, you go first."

Hakoda clued in instantly, watching as Ty Lee snapped the staff together, then open, even as she vaulted over the wall. "That's a hell of a woman you've got there," Hakoda said, watching as she came to a smooth stop at the base of the wall in the snow.

"Dad, you've got no idea," Sokka replied. The door nearby crashed open, and Suki flew into action, her unarmed strikes incapacitating the armed guards in an instant, before she took a spear and wedged the door shut.

"And when they get the bows?" Chit Sang asked.

"We hide behind the mattress," Suki said, ever the professional. Hakoda gave Sokka one last clap on the shoulder, then leapt over the wall, his fall broken by a bubble of air Ty Lee created as he fell. It still didn't look comfortable. "Jei, you're next."

The burnt woman nodded, and with a look of trepidation, jumped off the wall. With Hakoda to catch her, it was much less messy. The door rattled nearby, as people tried to batter it down. Now, there were alarms sounding, and the guards were running to try to get around the prison in the other direction. The mattresses went next, and Chit Sang followed them. Suki paused only long enough to press a kiss to his lips, with a warning of 'Don't you dare die on me', before she herself followed after, although she didn't bother with using Ty Lee's air-breaking.

"You're up," Zuko said, but as he did, the door exploded out of its frame. His face bloodied and enraged, Jeong Jeong stomped out onto the battlement, fire blazing around his extended fingers. He twisted and moved through a Kata, and a wall of fire swept along the battlement. "Screw it, we're both up!" Zuko shouted, grabbing Sokka and tipping both of them off the wall. Sokka remembered a long fall before, when he had taken that admittedly ill-advised leap off the walls of Ba Sing Se. This was somehow more terrifying, because he knew the ground was a lot closer. Still, Zuko twisted himself and blasted toward the unoccupied ground with some firebending thing, and they slowed down enough not to dash themselves on the icy rocks.

"How are we going to get down?" Chit Sang asked. "They're just going to set off an avalanche after us."

A dull whoomp sounded in the snow nearby, and Sokka grinned. "They can't set off an avalanche if we did it first," he said. "Now everybody onto a mattress! We're sledding out of here!"

"You were right. His plans are crazy," Jei said. But she didn't complain any further, climbing onto the mattress behind Hakoda. Sokka took the lead on the second, and he smiled as his quickly-made bomb set off the avalanche he had hoped for. The snow slid downward with increasing intensity, threatening to swamp all of the turrets and watchtowers below. And all he had to do now was not fall off his 'sled' or be incinerated by two of the most powerful firebenders in the world. Lovely.

* * *

Azula's eyes snapped open as she heard the alarms begin to blare. In an instant, the candles she'd been meditating with to try and dispel Ty Lee's poisonous influence flashed into vapors of wax, and she bounded to her feet. She ran down the iron hallways of her appropriated airship, and threw herself to the rail, staring over. A surge of white was tearing down the mountain. Just behind that, two forms shot down the mountain at incredible speed. At the wall, a blast of flame surged down toward the rock. Jeong Jeong was there, and he was attacking somebody. Azula had been right. Ty Lee was up to something. Azula should have just killed her.

No, you shouldn't have. You still need her.

"I don't need anybody!" Azula shouted at that voice inside her mind. It seemed different from the one which was always trying to tear her apart. Younger. More... innocent.

You're wrong.

"I'll show you who's wrong," Azula said. "She should never have betrayed me. Never!"

Azula threw herself over the rail, and plunged headlong through the air. The wind tore past her, stinging her face with its brutal cold, until she was low enough to bother igniting her firebending. Jeong Jeong was right. The altitude here played havoc with her breath control, but she was the most powerful firebender the world had seen in generations. She would cope.

Seven prisoners were moving down the hill. Six of them were sliding down on the backs of... mattresses? Whose insane idea could that have been? Strangely, though, they seemed to be making very good time. Ahead and below, Jeong Jeong finally abandoned the wall, leaping over and surging after them, employing the same firebending based flight as Azula, but his skimmed the ground, following them down.

Jeong Jeong attacked first at random between the two targets, but soon, he started focusing on one in particular. He let a particularly powerful blast of fire surge toward his target, and a shield of blue flame swept up, deflecting it. He glanced back, and Azula could see that unique, unmistakable scar. Azula's cheek twitched. Brother. Zuko was here. She surged down even faster, twisting her arms through the air as she felt that energy within her tear itself apart. When the lightning traced her fingers, she let it explode out of her, searing toward her soon-to-be-departed brother. He astounded her when he reached toward her, one hand grasping at her lightning bolt, and seemed to pull it inward, before turning and punching that power up the mountain at Jeong Jeong. He hadn't generated lightning. He stole her lightning and used it himself!

Jeong Jeong managed to get out of the way, but the blast sent him reeling in the sky before he recovered himself. He did not look pleased. He swept out his arms, and a wall of fire rolled down toward the whole lot of them. The fire reached the mattresses, and was deflected away by the combined efforts of what looked like three different firebenders working in tandem. Oh, this wouldn't stand. Then, as Azula was closing on them, a notion occurred to her. Where was Ty Lee?

The answer struck her like an acrobat from the sky. Azula's trajectory was lost and she tumbled, wrapped around with limbs of an Embiar noble girl. Azula twisted and lashed out with elbows until she felt something connect, and the girl flew off, but contrary to Azula's prediction of the girl falling to her death, she spun a staff, which snapped open into a steel version of the Avatar's glider. She then drifted away. What?

Azula broke off from the prisoners and her traitor brother below, fixated on Ty Lee. Not just a traitor, but a heretic! She was an airbender! Had she been the entire time? Azula powered after the girl, burning through her precious breath and chi, but she didn't care. She would burn the world for tinder if it got her the revenge she deserved.

Nobody can ever love you.

Azula let out a roar at that more familiar voice. Well, she intended it to be a roar, but it sounded to her ear as a shriek of bloody murder. She punched forward, sending great blasts of fire ahead of her, and the lover-turned-traitor dodged and swooped out of the way. This was why she was always so careful choosing her fights with the Avatar. If she couldn't lock him down, he would just float away. Her eyes shot down toward the prisoners. If she couldn't attack Ty Lee, perhaps she could destroy her root, her cause, and her 'friends'.

Azula changed direction, letting the blazing fire carry her down on the heel of Jeong Jeong and the escaping prisoners. Zuko saw her, no doubt recognizing her unmistakable blue flames, and shifted his attention away from the Firemaster. Jeong Jeong took advantage, hurling a tiny but fast moving bolt of fire at the traitor. Without looking, Zuko bent low into a flowing form, and the bolt shot around him, surging back toward Azula. She had to halt, bringing up an azure barrier to make sure the fire bullet didn't strike into her.

"Don't do it, Azula!" Ty Lee's voice came from above, but Azula ignored it. She powered forward again, overtaking Jeong Jeong, who was bleeding profusely from a brutal cut up his face, and then shot past the fleeing prisoners. She only gave one blast of fire in their direction, to keep them off balance, before landing well ahead of them. She turned, sweeping out her hands, and burning away the ice of what should have been a smooth downward slope into a pit. She then leapt up onto the back edge of it, smirking triumphantly as the prisoners discovered that they couldn't steer to avoid her trap. They all bailed out, and the mattresses fell into the deep hole.

"Welcome to Avalanche," Azula said to the people picking themselves out of the snow and scree, only about part of the way down the mountain. The air was much less thin here, though. "The inescapable prison. Let's make sure that the record stands, shall we?"

"You're lipstick is smudged," Zuko said with a smirk as the snow melted out of his shaggy hair. Azula felt her eye twitch, and she lashed out with a bolt of blue fire, which Zuko smashed aside. Jeong Jeong began to pelt the other firebenders with his own assault; working together, the large man and the smaller woman were able to hold their ground, but as soon as one faltered, both would fall. Let the old master have his fun. The three non-benders seemed to fixate on Jeong Jeong, since he was both closer, and not Azula. She continued to pound at her brother, never faltering, never stopping, but strangely, he just... took it.

Every attack she hurled at him, he deflected, discorporated, unraveled or unmade, but he never launched his own attack. Above, Azula could see the forms of other guards descending the mountain, to give backup. Below, Azula didn't doubt that the same was coming from the lower way points. They were trapped. They were going to die on this mountain. Just like everybody else who came here.

Azula heard a snap behind her, and turned, a circle kick of fire swirling. Ty Lee managed to dodge under it, and tried to strike at Azula with her staff, but Azula wasn't born yesterday. She had much experience, not just in surviving firebending combat, but martial combat as well. And there was nothing Ty Lee did that wasn't potentially dangerous. Dividing her attention between her treasonous brother and her unforgivable liar of a friend taxed her. Her breath began to come in panting wheezes, but she refused to give one hair of leeway to these fools, bastards, degenerates!

"You can't win," Azula shouted, between letting a pinwheel of fire rage toward her brother, and kicking a staff thrust away from her belly. "It's just a matter of time until you all go down!"

"I don't want to hurt you, Azula," Ty Lee said, and her expression was that of an honest woman. But Ty Lee had lied to her. Torn her heart out. Worse than anything else, Ty Lee made Azula _trust_ her. There could be no greater tresspass.

"And you won't!" Azula answered, finally giving all of her attention to airbending girl. The wind began to buffet at her as she let fly blast upon blast of fire, but Ty Lee just kept dodging out of the way. Finally, Azula began to tear that energy inside herself apart again, sweeping her fingers through the air and gathering the lightning that formed. She was just about to give it direction, when she felt something sharp bite into her hand, right at the wrist. She stared down, transfixed, as that energy washed away. Up the hill, Jeong Jeong gave a cry of pain and alarm, as she noticed he was slammed to the ground.

A stiletto had impaled her wrist. Too shocked even to feel the pain, she turned, staring to what was behind her. An airship – _her_ airship – was floating behind them, and Mai was gathering herself up from the lower deck. She had just jumped down from control. Azula pulled the thin blade from its place under her skin and threw it away.

"What do you think you're doing?" Azula roared.

"I'm saving the jerk who dumped me," Mai said. She turned to the others below. "Well, don't stand there like a bunch of morons, get onto the ship!"

Azula sent out a shockwave which knocked Ty Lee away for a moment before turning to the Azuli. "How could you do this to me? You had to know the consequences!"

"You miscalculated, Azula," Mai said. "I love Zuko more than I fear you."

Azula felt cold running through her. She shivered for a moment, before that rage, unstoppable and unabatable, began to tear through her once again. "No, _you_ miscalculated! You should have _feared me more_!"

Azula tore the energy within herself apart in massive quantities, stripping every shred to bits, letting that shockwave build. But something wasn't right. No lightning followed her fingertips as she motioned. And when she thrust out her fingers it just felt... wrong. An explosion tore through the air, right in front of her, sending Azula careening through the air, only to roll to a stop back at the other side of her trap. Jeong Jeong's calloused hands began to pull her up but she struck them aside.

"Come on, guys, we've got to get out of here!" Ty Lee's voice came from the deck of that stolen airship. Azula began to motion again, but Jeong Jeong clapped his hands over hers, holding them still, with a look of rage in his eyes. That cut on his right eye was definitely going to leave a scar. Azula stared hatefully as her last 'friend' watched, and the airship began to rise away from the mountain.

Azula never even noticed that she was crying.

* * *

Aang was bored. Beyond bored. If boredom could lead to the Avatar State, he would have been glowing it up by now. Of course, even if it could, his chakra was locked, so it wasn't going to do anything. He stared at the flame, breathing in. When he did, the flame grew a little bigger. When he breathed out, the flame dimmed just a bit. As boring as it was, Aang had to admit, he could see the point to it. It wasn't any wonder he wasn't getting power into his fire; he didn't know how important his breath was.

He began to hear a strange sound outside the studying room, well away from everybody at Zuko's insistence. Ever since the Prince started teaching Aang proper firebending, the man seemed paranoid about possibly hurting somebody unintentionally. It was a vast departure from the firebender who had burned down most of Kyoshi just to get at him. It showed that Zuko really had grown, both as a man, and as bender. Aang's curiosity finally got the better of him, and he let the flame settle as he walked outside. His eyes went wide as he beheld a Fire Nation airship slowly descending to the level of the fountain plaza.

"EVERYBODY GET UP!" Aang roared, bending himself an air scooter and shooting along the pathways until he took a flying leap down to the level of the plaza. A gangplang fell and landed with a great clang on the stone. And the first person off that ship was... Suki, the Kyoshi Warrior? All of the other denizens moved into the plaza, and were confronted by the same strange sight. After Suki, a large man with green eyes and a red jumper waved politely.

"Hey everybody. I'm new," he said. "So's she."

Just behind those two were Hakoda, and a woman with a burned face. And after they? Ty Lee, Sokka, and Zuko. Aang's eyes widened. "I thought you said you were going to find meat," Aang said.

"We did," Ty Lee said.

"The greatest meat of all. The meat of love, family, and fatherhood," Sokka said, staring as Katara wordlessly launched herself at her father, swept up into an embrace. The airship began to rise again. Somebody was still piloting it? Aang could hear a chortling, before Toph nearly pissed herself laughing at that odd choice of words.

"Where did you go?" Aang asked Zuko.

"On a mad quest," Zuko said. "An insane, impossible mission. You know. Your average Sunday."

"We seem to have the strangest adventures," Aang noticed. "So, are you going to teach me how to throw lightning yet?"

"Have you started feeling the sunrise yet?" he asked. Aang shook his head. "Then no."

"You're no fun," Aang muttered. Zuko didn't scowl, he just smirked, giving the Avatar a light shove, before walking over to the fountain, and splashing some water on his face. Zuko seemed a different person, not just from before, but even from when he left. Like he was walking on air. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Zuko said, staring down at the water. "I think I actually am."

* * *

The adults were all sleeping soundly; they'd spent most of the trip back from Avalanche practically catatonic, trying to make up for all the oxygen they'd missed during their incarceration. Zuko and the other teenagers, though, were still wide awake and wired. Zuko handed out cups of tea in turn, listening to the stories they told of the good times they'd had.

"You know, even though this ain't got a patch on the Old Man's, this ain't half bad," Toph said.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Yeah, we don't get good tea back home," Sokka said. "Just about anything is a step up."

"Iroh once said to me that it came as no great surprise that the Water Tribes survived through not just the century of the Weary War, but the ages before it," Zuko said, taking his own cup and knocking it back while they waited. "Can you guess why that would be?"

"We're a community, we always band together and we never fight apart. What affects one, affects all," Katara said. "Water is change, and we flow with it."

"No," Zuko said. He stopped, laying a hand onto each of Aang and Ty Lee's shoulders. "It's because you're supernaturally attractive. Everybody in the world wants to sleep with you. There's no shortage of people willing to make the next generation of Water Tribesmen. So, yeah, congratulations, you two."

"Zuko, that's disgusting," Katara said, but everybody else was laughing. Especially the blind earthbender.

"Oh, he's got your number, Sweetness. Hey, Sparky, another cup?"

"I thought I was Sparky," Sokka muttered.

"You've already got _two_ nicknames. Don't bitch because I gave one of them to him," Toph said, pointing at Zuko. After doing as Toph asked, Zuko walked away into the darkness. He moved to his room, staring out the window at the strip of stars which was visible under the roof of the canyon and above the lip of the far wall.

"Are you going to come in or just stand there?" Zuko asked quietly. He glanced over, and Mai was standing in the door.

"How did you know I was there?" she asked.

"I know you so well," Zuko said with a smirk. She raised an eyebrow. "Fine, I took a guess, and it paid off," he turned and sat on the edge of his bed. "I didn't expect you to do what you did. I thought you said to leave you out of whatever it was I was doing."

"Since you've obviously never had to deal with a real relationship before, I'm going to let you in on a little secret," Mai said. "Sometimes, when women get really upset, they say things they don't mean."

"You didn't sound very upset," Zuko said. "More... angry."

"Why do you make it sound good that I was angry?"

"Because I like it when you're angry. It shows me that you care," Zuko said.

"So you're not oblivious," Mai said. She moved closer, sitting on the other side of the bed. "Besides, I know what's coming. I'm not a fanatic. I don't want that on my hands."

"Why did you join me? Us, whatever," Zuko asked. Mai leaned forward a moment, as though trying to find the answer in herself.

"Maybe... I'm just ready to actually _care_ about something," Mai said, her tone distant. "Maybe I want to believe that Ty Lee is right. That we've all got this 'destiny', that we can do something with our lives. I want to believe that I _matter_."

Zuko couldn't help but stare at this impossible, incredible woman. "Does this mean you'll fight with us?"

"That means I kinda love you, you goon," Mai said, a small smirk on her face. He moved a bit closer, and she raised an eyebrow. "But I'm still mad at you, so don't push your luck."

Zuko nodded, laying back against the wall. Mai did likewise. "Well, I guess it's treason together, then?"

"Don't get poetic. You don't do it very well," Mai said. "Oh, and one more thing," she said, leaning over and jabbing him in the chest with a finger. "Don't ever. Break up with me. Again." Zuko's expression must have perfectly imparted the three things he was thinking; I never would, I'm sorry I did, and please don't hurt me. Which made her smile a bit. Eventually, the two of them drifted off into sleep, shifting close together, and dreamed of carefree days and hopeful summers. He finally slept without fear, without hatred. Not at the world and not at himself. A fire which had been licking at Zuko's heart, threatening to consume his very soul, finally died down. Zuko knew peace.

The next day, Zuko's fire stopped being blue.

The day after that, there was a lot less of it.

* * *

_He he he. 'Ty Zula'. Leave a review._


	14. Child of the Dragon

**I didn't hate the episode this was based on, but I felt it could have been taken so much further. So I did.**

**The awkward conversation everybody knew was coming between father and son arrives, we talk about some background characters a bit, you know. Standard story stuff. Now, this chapter and the next one are occurring simultaneously, two tracks, two stories, no waiting. Only two real teasers in this chapter, one of which pays off soon, the other probably won't come to fruition until well into The War of Flames. Whenever I get around to writing it.**

**And for those keeping track: As of this thing's publishment, I'm writing the last chapter. Yay me.**

* * *

Sokka fidgetted, unhappy to be wearing pants. He had been planning to _visit _his girlfriend tonight, but that had been unexpectedly cut short, and then she ran off with her gloomy friend. In a way, it chaffed. Well, in several ways, it chaffed, but he was comforted by the knowledge that she always did find her way back to him. There was a constancy in Sokka's life: everything that he loved, no matter how far it went, always came back to him in time. And the sole exception to that had been the source of a very uncomfortable conversation a few minutes ago.

"There's the warrior," Hakoda said from the Hall of Statues. The whole structure was a grand spiral, just wide enough for Teo's wheelchair to fit down it and achieve remarkable speeds. Since Toph installed a 'window', it also served as his launching ramp for some airbenderless flying. The bottom of this room had, for the time being, been claimed by the adults. Suki and Jei were sitting off to one side, playing a game of Pai Sho. Obviously the _giant_ table at the other side of the Temple wasn't to their liking. "What are you doing up at this hour? Usually, you're dead to the world until a few hours after sunrise."

"It's a bad habit that I've picked up," Sokka said. "It comes with having a girlfriend who sleeps two hours a day, usually."

"Yes, usually," Hakoda said. He beckoned over, and Sokka went to his father's side. "Jei, this is my son. I haven't really had a good opportunity for a proper introduction."

"No, we haven't," Sokka said. "I talked to Zuko. When you came into Avalanche, it was a Tribesman, a child murderer and an assassin. The child murderer is dead, and you don't look like a tribesman."

"Sokka, mind your tongue," Hakoda said, surprised. "She's not a..."

"It depends on your definition of assassin," Jei said, rubbing a hand across the burnt part of her face. "I did kill a general."

"I thought you killed your husband?" Hakoda asked.

"Same man," Jei said. "Houn Biao was a rising star in the Fire Nation military. The men loved him. The Fire Lord commended him. But he was... cruel. He was the one who did this to me," she said, obviously meaning her scars. "There's a reason in the old days Agni Kai were more common; it's _hard_ to burn a firebender," Jei rubbed her cheek and eye again. "So you can imagine how hard Houn was trying when he did this."

Sokka felt his cheeks redden in shame. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring it up, it's just that..."

"Then you shouldn't have assumed," Hakoda said, but not harshly. "We've got enough problems as it is without inventing new ways and reasons to hate each other."

"I know you're right, Dad," Sokka said. "So what happened?"

"You can guess," Jei said. "He wanted things that I couldn't give him. So he became abusive, then destructive. When I threatened to leave him for a friend of mine, he tried to burn me alive. But he made the mistake of attacking a stronger firebender than he was."

"If you were stronger, why did you put up with it at all?" Sokka asked. Jei stared at the Pai Sho board, hesitating over a move. Sokka could already tell that she'd lost, but Jei couldn't.

"It's amazing how much pain you'll put up with for the people you love," Jei said.

Sokka scowled. He didn't really get it; if somebody's hurting you, you stay away from them. That's just common sense. But the older people seemed to nod sagely at that. "So what are you going to do now?"

"No idea," Jei said, finally laying her tile. Suki flipped her white lotus and began to tear through the firebender's defenses. "I'm just glad to be out of there. I was in prison for five years; I think they sent me _there_ to kill me," Jei's head dipped low, and Sokka could tell her eyes became damp. "My daughter is six years old. She probably wouldn't even recognize me."

"It's alright," Suki said. "We've all lost things."

"Yes, we have," Sokka and Hakoda said in unison, and about the same person. Sokka looked up. "Ty Lee told me about what you were doing after Chin. Did you ever find out what happened to your sister?"

"Yes," Suki said. She slid a line of soldiers along the paths, spelling Jei's final doom. The game was over. "She was sent to Avalanche, nine years ago."

"Really? Did you see her?" Sokka asked. Chit Sang shook his head slowly.

"No," he said, his deep voice quiet. "She died in her first week. Altitude sickness. Not everybody survives that place. In a way, very few do."

"Tui La," Sokka said. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright," Suki said, quietly. "In a way, I was sort of expecting it. It still hit me pretty hard, but I'll get used to it. My nephew and nieces still need me, since Dad's probably getting a bit long in the beak."

Sokka sat in front of the fire. "Boy, I sure spoiled the mood in here, didn't I?"

"Somebody had to," Toph said, walking by the room.

"No comments from the peanut gallery!" Sokka shouted back, but the blind earthbender just laughed as she moved off to deal with her nightly needs. Sokka reached over and grabbed a skin from Hakoda's side. A sniff confirmed that it was an attempt to duplicate Hunt Wine. Back home, it tasted like yak-horse piss, so this couldn't be anything but an improvement. "To the things we've lost."

"To my face," Jei said, taking up the grim toast.

"To twelve years of my life," Chit Sang answered.

"To Zhuang," Suki said.

"To Kya," Hakoda said quietly. Then, all of the veterans of the Weary War took their drinks in silence and contemplation.

"Alright, enough of that," Suki said. "Who's the next one I beat at Pai Sho?"

* * *

"You know, I think I'm starting to feel it," Aang said, his eyes closed and the headband he still carried around over his eyes. "Zuko... the sun came up about a minute ago, didn't it?"

"That's good. We'll make a proper firebender out of you yet," Zuko said. "Now, feel that energy in your stomach, and let it flow out your arm, just a filament of it. Let that filament of chi direct your attack," Aang opened his eyes, turning toward the low sunlight and following Zuko's advice. He surged into a short punch, and the fire which surged away from his fist was not guttering, more of a fan, but rather, a discrete and swift ball of flame which bridged the distance, striking the scorch mark which Zuko had left days before. It wasn't nearly so destructive, but still gave a good hearty bang.

"I can't believe it! I'm firebending! I mean, I'm doing it right!" Aang said, excited. Zuko smiled. "Show me how it's done, sifu-hotman."

"Stop calling me that," Zuko said. He stood, and slowly breathed in, before spinning down into a Kata like he had before when he blasted away part of the cliff. But this time, instead of a demolishing blast of fire, a farting sound hit the sky, and a pitiful gout of scarlet flame flicked out from his knuckles before dissolving into smoke.

"Very funny. Come on, Zuko!" Aang said. Zuko didn't seem to be joking, though. His face took on a very serious cast. He tried again, a different Kata, and produced a similarly minuscule fireblast. A third attempt yielded even more pathetic results. Zuko let out a growl of frustration, running fingers along his gathered hair, jostling against the double-flame headpiece which used to belong to Avatar Roku.

"I kinda felt the heat off that one," Aang offered.

"Don't patronize me!" Zuko said. His eyes narrowed, and he gave one last try, a very basic Kata that even Jee knew, a fire punch. Smoke came out. Zuko sighed, rubbing his scarred eye. "Damn. I _really_ should have talked to Iroh about this last time this happened."

"This has happened to you before?" Aang asked.

"When we were going to Ba Sing Se," Zuko said. "I lost my firebending for more than a month. Well, most of it anyway," Zuko focused on his hand, and a tiny, weak flame appeared above his palm. "That's about all I've got."

Zuko walked out, along those pathways, staring at the fire. Aang tried to get his attention, but he seemed transfixed by the fire. Finally, when he reached the fountain plaza, he just shook his head, the flame in his hand dissolving into smoke. "I'm sorry, Aang. I don't know if I'll be able to teach you much more. My stuff's gone," Zuko said, shaking his head.

"I didn't touch your stuff!" Toph said, pointing a finger at Zuko.

"I was talking about my firebending," Zuko said. Aang moved closer.

"Well, what happened last time you lost it?" Aang asked.

"Angry Jerk lost his firebending?" Sokka said, looking extremely enthusiastic. He stopped glancing around, suspicious. "Usually, this is the part where my sister tells me not to be an ass."

"When I was heading into Ba Sing Se," Zuko said, ignoring Sokka's paranoia, "I didn't have a purpose, I had given up hope. It wasn't that I stopped fighting, I just stopped being... angry enough to firebend."

"But if you were that despondent, how did you get it back?" Aang asked. "And why did it go all Azula-y?"

"I must have replaced my hatred of you with hatred of myself," Zuko said. He ran his fingers along his gathered hair. "It turns out, I've got a lot more of the latter than the former."

"Wait, so all we need to do to get you throwin' fireballs is to piss you off?" Toph asked, a grin appearing on her face. Sokka was the first to react, though, prodding Zuko with his sheathed meteorite sword while laughing the entire time. Zuko took it, standing stoically for a few prods, before smacking the playfully held sword into the fountain, a scowl on his face.

"Did you ever stop to consider that maybe I don't want everything I do to be fueled by rage and self-hatred?" Zuko asked, giving Sokka just a bit of a death glare. "But the problem is, the only man who could have taught me how to do that has vanished."

"Your uncle?" Aang asked.

"Iroh," Zuko nodded. Toph shrugged.

"Well, it's probably just 'cause you're using a screwed up form of firebending," Toph said. "Now, I remember that back in Sozin's day–"

"You remember?" Zuko asked, but Toph kept speaking.

"They had all kinds of different styles and forms. I wasn't payin' much attention to them. You know, earthbender and all that," Toph bit into an apple, letting the pause stretch. "But the fact is, Roku had a very different style than you or your sister do. I think you need to find one of the old styles, maybe that'll suit your new you better."

"All the old styles are gone," Zuko said, leaning against a half-crumbled pillar. "Sozin declared them all heresy and had the manuals burned, ironically enough, after making sure that the military had a standardized system in place."

"Then you're going to have to learn from the source," Toph said. "The original source. When I learned earthbending, this time, anyway," Toph leaned over and spat out an apple seed, "I did it from badgermoles living deep under Shr-Wa. To them, earthbending isn't about fighting, it's a fundamental part of what they are. Since we were both blind, we got along just ducky. And learning from them, I discovered how to earthbend, not as a martial art, but as an extension of my senses. Or in my case, in lieu of one of my senses."

"Of course," Aang said. "The first airbenders, before we even _became_ the Air Nomads, learned from the sky bison!" Aang said, excited to have a prospect like that.

"That's just as impossible," Zuko said. "The first firebender was Agni, and he _couldn't_ teach the human race, so he created the dragons to give fire to the world."

"So, learn from the dragons!" Aang said.

"How hard could that be? Roku had a dragon, and so did Sozin," Toph said. Zuko shot a confused stare at the blind earthbender. At some point somebody was going to have to tell the firebender about her past lives. It was really raising eyebrow.

"That isn't an option," Zuko said. "And my family is the reason."

"Tui La, what doesn't your family ruin?" Sokka muttered.

"Yeah, I get that," Zuko said. He pondered for another long moment. "But you might be right, Toph. There could be another way to learn from the source."

"What do you mean?"

"Aang, get Appa, I'll explain in a bit," Zuko said. He got up to his feet, walking back toward his rooms. Aang turned, and ran to the edge of the cliff, blowing on his bison whistle. After a few seconds, the beast didn't appear, or even so much as grunt. Aang blew again. Nothing. Aang quickly air-scootered over to the bison pens, and found them vacant. He returned to the fountain plaza, puzzled.

"What's wrong, Twinkletoes?" Toph asked, giving her feet a good scrubbing in the trickle which ran away from the fountain. It had taken a bit of yelling to get her to stop doing that in the actual pool.

"I can't find Appa," Aang said.

"That's not all we can't find," Zuko said, returning from his rooms with his bag slung over his shoulder. "I can't find any sign of Mai."

Sokka seemed to perk up for a moment, then shot a glance toward Zuko, but didn't say anything. "Well, where could they have gone?" he asked. Ty Lee tugged on Zuko's sleeve, then whispered something into his ear. "Oh. Really?" she nodded. "She didn't seem the type. I guess that explains the death threat, then," he turned back to Aang. "I guess we've got a change in plans. We're going to need to use the airship," Aang must have had a questioning look. "The first people to learn from the dragons were the Sun Warriors, the lost civilization which gave rise to the Hui peoples in the northern jungles. There's a chance that if we can find their civilization, we could find something that Sozin hasn't destroyed. I mean, people haven't found a new Hui site in hundreds of years, and their empire was a lot bigger than what we've reclaimed at Hui Lo."

"Quick question," Sokka said, waving a hand. "If they're a _lost_ civilization, how exactly are you going to find them?"

Zuko quietly reached into his bag and pulled out a scroll. Aang's eyes widened. He'd seen thousands of scrolls of similar make, in Wan Shi Tong's library. Zuko began to unfurl it... and kept on unfurling it until there was probably enough unrolled paper to cover the entire fountain plaza, despite the scroll appearing no more than two fingers thick. He finally stopped, pointing down at an illustrated figure, at what must have been the beginning of the scroll.

"This is Huitzilocticlan, the very first Avatar," Zuko said. "He was a firebender, born of the Sun Warriors thousands upon thousands of years ago."

"That's neat, but what does this have to do with finding a culture in an enveloping jungle?" Sokka asked.

Zuko ran his fingers along the scroll, and the information displayed for Huitzilocticlan changed, from basic information in Uou, the language of spirits, to a sort of map. It didn't look like the world, but Zuko somehow manipulated it again, and the world... changed, shifting through a dozen of different configurations until it settled on one which was familiar: this world. And one spot remained constant. "I'm guessing, wherever the first Avatar was born, there's probably a Sun Warrior civilization there. Even if it's just ruins, there could be _something_."

"How did you learn to do that?" Aang asked.

"Trying to keep myself distracted from unpleasant thoughts gave me a lot of impetus to try strange and unusual things," Zuko said, tucking the spirit scroll away. "But we've got to go. If I can't find a new way of firebending, then you're going to need to find yourself a new master, and I doubt after our little stunt on Avalanche that either Firemaster Jeong Jeong or Azula are going to be willing to tutor you."

"Can you _imagine_ Crazy Bitch as Aang's firebending master?" Toph asked. "Scaaaary."

* * *

"Son, could I have a word with you?" Sokka's father called over to him. Aang and Zuko had left hours ago, and obviously something was on his mind. Sokka quickly crossed the distance, moving to his father's side.

"What is it, Dad?"

"You've been spending a lot of _time_ with that acrobat, haven't you?" Hakoda said.

"Yeah, well," Sokka began.

"Sokka, you know that I never allow anybody to shirk their responsibilities in this family," Hakoda said. Sokka looked a bit confused. "I'm fairly sure that if you're any son of mine, there's been some 'carrying on', and however entertaining that might be, you have to be aware of the consequences of what you're doing."

"What's he doing?" Ty Lee asked, peeking down from a higher pagoda. Both father and son gave a start, and she flipped down to join them on the precipice of the cliff. Hakoda composed himself almost instantly, and cleared his throat.

"In our culture, if two people behave in the way you have, there have to be certain assurances put into place," Hakoda said. "Not just for the sake of our culture, but for the protection of the woman involved. If Sokka is unable or unwilling to take responsibility for his actions and marr..."

"Don't," Ty Lee said. Hakoda was caught short. "I get that in your culture, you don't know how long you're going to live, so you marry young. Sokka said that most girls in the Tribes get married at sixteen. Well, in the Fire Nation, most women don't get married until they're twenty," Hakoda was about to say something, but Ty Lee, either ignoring him or not even noticing, continued. "Betrothal happens, but let's face it, I've never been particularly interested in somebody else deciding who I was going to be in love with. So, with all respect to the father of my boyfriend, stay the hell out of my business."

She said, with the sweetest voice imaginable, a quick kiss onto Sokka's cheek, and then bounded away, leaping all the way to the next pagoda without even using her staff. Sokka gave a glance to his father. "Yeah. I guess that's that," Sokka said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Unbelievable," Hakoda said, shaking his head.

* * *

It was strange and no small bit embarrassing that Zuko had to use his dao swords as machetes to clear the vegetation that crept up in the strangest spots, preventing ingress into the jungle. Aang, though, seemed positively delighted to be in a place this lush. Considering the Avatar's way with animals, it didn't seem that surprising. Zuko was very glad that he hadn't in fact recommended using the remaining bombs in the airship to clear a landing spot. It probably would have driven Aang right into the Avatar State, and Zuko really didn't need that.

Finally, though, the impenetrable layers of green proved that they weren't, and the Avatar and the Dark Prince found themselves walking amongst the vanishing bones of a lost civilization. Aang was practically beside himself. "Wow!" he declared. "Look at this place! It must be thousands of years old!"

"Probably," Zuko said. He looked around, and couldn't help but be a bit startled himself. "It's weird. There's not very much architecture in common with the Fire Nation. This is all in stone, and the way it's constructed, it looks more like the Capital of the North than anything my people have ever built."

"I wonder what that's about," Aang said. He suddenly grinned. "Now we've learned something about architecture! See, the past can be a great teacher."

Just as Aang finished that word, Zuko heard a barely audible clack, and lashed forward, hauling the Avatar off his feet and backwards, an instant before an obsidian bladed scythe slashed him in half. It smashed into the wall above Zuko's back, its brittle stone shattering against the hardier stuff of the wall.

"Zuko," Aang said, his voice small. "I think the past is trying to kill us."

Zuko, though, stood, playing with the mechanism a bit. "I can't believe this," Zuko said, feeling the tension still against the device. "This trap has to be hundreds if not thousands of years old, and it still works. Whoever designed this thing, designed it to last."

"I don't think we should go any further," Aang said, clutching his glider nervously. Zuko frowned. The Avatar had never gotten this rattled before, when Zuko was after him. Even that time when Zuko had to hold him at sword point to get him out of Pohuai Stronghold. "There's probably more traps like this ahead."

Zuko let the arm swing back against the wall, much softer this time, and shook his head. "If they felt like they had to put up traps, it's probably because they had something they felt they needed to protect," Zuko said. He smirked. "And besides, it's not like this'd be the first time you did something this risky with as little apparent hope of success."

"What do you mean?"

"As I hear it, you took on the entire Royal Palace over in Ba Sing Se," Zuko said. "And you didn't even know if you were going to get a word in edgewise with the Earth King. So yeah, that took a lot of guts."

"Thanks."

"Not bright, but brave," Zuko finished. When Aang turned to him in mild outrage, Zuko was already chuckling. The two continued onward, Aang the enthusiastic student, and Zuko, for some reason he couldn't comprehend, the steady tour-guide. Aang's questions, which were numerous, were either answered in a single breath, or with a shrug denoting Zuko's understandable ignorance as to the nature of a peoples who were born and vanished in the dusts of time.

"Now this looks a bit more promising," Aang said, looking up at a carved fresco which had survived millennia exposed to the elements. The craftsmanship was of the absolute highest quality. On it was an image of a man and two dragons. The dragons were belching out an enormous wall of stylized flame which surrounded and seemed to overwhelm the man. The man had his arms raised in supplication. "Although what it says about firebending, I'm not sure."

"They look angry to me," Zuko muttered.

"Yeah, I thought the dragons were friends with the Sun Warriors."

"Then they've got a funny way of showing it," Zuko said, rubbing his left eye without realizing it as he turned away. Aang remained behind though, staring up at that engraving. "Are you coming or not?"

"Zuko, something happened to the dragons a hundred years ago, didn't it?" Aang said, his voice quiet, his knuckles tight on his staff. "There must be some reason I haven't seen one alive in my entire life."

Zuko paused. He hadn't wanted to say it, but Aang deserved the truth. "There is a reason. A reason named Sozin," Zuko said.

"What?"

"After Roku's death, the Fire Lord decided that in order to prove oneself, one had to hunt and kill something that portrayed your strengths. Mighty men would wrestle Kimodo Rhinos to death. Fast people would run down and spear an Eel Hound. But dragons were considered the ultimate firebenders. Any person who could bring one of them down would have their name echo through history, an individual of unmatched power and skill. No matter their birth, they were raised up, and given the title of Dragon."

"Zuko, are you saying...?" Aang said, and Zuko nodded.

"The last man to conquer the dragon, ever, was Iroh," Zuko said. "It was the last dragon in the world, and when he destroyed it, he destroyed a part of our culture and our history. He wasn't much older than I am, and he has been the Dragon of the West ever since," Zuko said, laying a hand on a crumbled statue which had once portrayed one of the regal beasts.

"But I thought your uncle was... you know... good," Aang said, confused. Zuko's head sagged.

"Iroh had a complicated past," Zuko said. "It runs in the family."

Zuko kept walking, and found himself drawn to a structure which finally looked somewhat familiar. This one bore a slight resemblance to the Fire Sage's temple in Grand Ember, a stepped pyramid capped with gold which still glowed in the afternoon light after so many years. Near its peak was a grand door, covered all over in inscriptions which Zuko couldn't read, and a sun dial lay outside it.

"Now _this_ looks promising," Aang said, revising his earlier statement. He hurled a blast of air at the doors, but it just wafted away. He then seemed to try earthbending, but the heavy cladding of gold got in his way. Aang growled, then started shoving at the door. "It's locked up! What I wouldn't have to have Toph here for just five seconds!"

"Look at that," Zuko said, pointing above the door. A red stone was set into the structure. Behind him, light fell through a prism and stretched across the sun dial. "It's a calendar. It probably unlocks once a year at just the right time. If it's anything like the Fire Nation, that'd be the summer solstice."

"The summer solstice?" Aang asked, exasperated. "That's a year away! I don't have that kind of time!"

"Tell me about it," Zuko muttered. His eyebrow perked up as he had a notion. "But maybe we don't need to wait that long," he pulled out his sword and wiped the blade back to its mirror sheen, before carefully angling the light off of the dull, faded gold and up directly into the red stone. After a few minutes and a slight ache in his wrists, he got it lined up properly, and a rumbling began to sound in that chamber. The door swung open, and Aang leapt through first, as if completely forgetting the traps which they'd been circumventing.

"So what've we got?" Zuko asked, ducking into the room. Murals, similar to the one outside, continued along all of the walls. These ones, though, still maintained their layer of paint and looked as vibrant as the day they were crafted. And dominating the heart of the chamber were a ring of statues. "Statues and paintings? That's it?"

"I can't read this writing," Aang said. He looked over. "That's a first for me! I can always understand what people are trying to tell me."

"Not this time, it looks like," Zuko said. He looked at the statues, the forms that they took. Experimentally, he began to mimic them. As he began to scan his eyes along the line, he began to see something shocking. The lessons that Iroh had taught him, the Katas that he used and no-one else, they were all related in some way to the forms depicted in the statues. Zuko heard another click, and hit the floor, cradling his head.

"Zuko!" Aang cried out. Zuko peered over, but Aang wasn't in pain or jeopardy. He was staring up at the statue. "I think I've figured something out. I need you to dance with me!"

"You need me to what?" Zuko asked, getting to his feet. Aang quickly dragged him in front of the first statue.

"Just trust me," Aang said. Zuko muttered something unkind under his breath, but stepped into that movement. He heard a click, both from under him, and over next to Aang. "It's not just a dance, it's a key!"

"That's an odd way to lock something," Zuko said. But with a glance between the Dark Prince and the Avatar, the two began to flow through the Katas, one motion after another. With each motion, their feet and weight was arrayed just perfectly to depress another switch. When they both reached the end of the 'dance', standing almost sideways, knuckles connecting, a different sound began to rumble through the structure.

Emerging from a clever device in the center of the room came a plinth. Atop it was something that looked like an egg, but made of solid gold. "That must be what they were protecting!" Aang shouted, moving to inspect it.

"What's an egg going to tell us about firebending?" Zuko asked.

"Maybe it's a dragon egg!" Aang said, reaching toward it.

"Aang stop!" Zuko shouted. The Avatar paused. "Haven't you forgotten all of the traps outside, the trouble we had to go through to get this far? Wouldn't it behoove us to be reasonably suspicious of obviously mystical gemstones on pedestals?"

Aang seemed to ponder it for a moment, but only a moment, before he grabbed the object, and began to inspect it more closely, pressing his ear to it, shaking it a bit. There was a bright smile on the young Avatar's face.

Zuko heard another click. He hung his head, looking back as the great doors swung shut, trapping the two of them inside. Aang let out a shout of alarm, wrapping himself around the golden object. Zuko looked at him, his expression wan. "You just _had_ to touch the glowing gold thing on the pedestal, didn't you?" he asked.

And then the sticky goop started flying.

* * *

When Sokka eventually found Ty Lee, she was standing in the center of the temple's famed giant Pai Sho table, trying to figure out how Aang did the air scooter. She'd been trying for more than an hour, but it never seemed to stabilize, throwing her off in a random direction. After the first near-death accident, she decided to do it in a place where she wasn't surrounded on all sides by a plummet to her demise. "Can we talk?" he asked. She stopped, turning toward him. He looked like he'd eaten something that had gone off.

"What is it?" Ty Lee asked, quickly turning to sit on an oversized Pai Sho tile. Sokka moved to sit beside her.

"I know that you and I come from different cultures, and it'd be wrong to just assume that after everything, we would end up cleaving to my culture over yours," Sokka began. Ty Lee shushed him.

"That's not what's bothering you."

"Yes it is," she stared at him. "Right. Aura reading," Sokka lay back over the giant Bastion tile. "Did you know that when Dad was my age, he was already married? For, like, a year?"

"It makes sense. When you don't know how long you've got, you don't waste any time," Ty Lee said, laying back next to him.

"But I feel like I'm already so far behind where I'm supposed to be right now," Sokka said. "If I were Dad, next year, I'd be born. The year after that, Katara. And me? I'm single, childless, and half a planet away from my home."

"Single?" Ty Lee asked. Sokka stared upward, then banged his head against the tile.

"I always manage to say the dumb thing, don't I?" Sokka asked.

"It's alright, I think I know what you mean," she said.

"I don't know," Sokka said. "When I was fifteen, I couldn't imagine getting married. But now, it's like it's breathing down my neck. Like I'm betraying... no that isn't the word. Like I'm failing Dad by not following in his footsteps."

"Are you going to be the next Chief?" she asked.

"Probably not," Sokka said. "Ked's more likely to take that position than I am, and he's, like, twelve."

"Then why are you worrying?" she asked.

"I don't _know_!" Sokka said. He sat forward. "Ty Lee, purely as a hypothetical; if I asked you to marry me, what would you say?"

"No," she said. "Not yet."

"And why?" he asked, seeming to droop a bit.

"Because I'm not ready," she said simply. His head hung. "But don't be so sad; if I were to marry somebody, it'd probably be you."

"Probably?" Sokka asked.

"You said yourself. You never know if the afternoon is going to bring an exploding Fire Nation spoon," Ty Lee said. "You should calm down. Enjoy the people around you and the time you have with them. I do that with you."

"You do that with a lot of people," Sokka said. Ty Lee scowled.

"Just because I love everybody doesn't mean I'll love anybody," she said, and Sokka let out a strangled noise. Ty Lee rolled her eyes. "You didn't mean it that way, did you?"

"I just can't keep my foot out of my mouth," Sokka said. Ty Lee leaned over and rested her cheek on his shoulder.

"Don't worry so much. I love you and I'm not going anywhere," she said.

"So you haven't _loved_ a lot of people?" Sokka asked. She glanced at him. "Hey, you know me. It's just you and the moon."

"Three," she said. "There's you, of course. There was Dian, that guy from Kyoshi Island. You know, the one who worked himself into a frothing frenzy every time Aang showed up?" Sokka nodded. "And before that there was... Azula."

"What?" Sokka asked, unable to be sure he'd heard right.

"When we were kids, we were close. And when we got older, we got... closer. When I knew I was running away to the circus, things just sort of happened," Ty Lee said, not apologizing in the slightest.

"But she's a girl," Sokka said, and then he immediately stopped himself. "And that hasn't stopped people before, now has it?"

"You're not mad?" she asked.

"Not at you," Sokka answered. Ty Lee quickly reached up and gave him a kiss.

"Come to think of it, you never did get that birthday present," she said.

"A bit late now," Sokka said, but she smiled broadly.

"It's never too late." She perked up. "But for now, feel like playing a giant game of Pai Sho?"

"As long as it keeps me from talking," Sokka said. "I think I've done enough damage doing that today."

"Then help me find the tiles I'm missing," she said. "I know there's a big white lotus around here somewhere."

* * *

Zuko stared up at the ceiling. Aang, who had been plastered against one of the statues, looked to be in a much less comfortable position, but he didn't ever admit it. "Help!" Aang shouted.

"It's a lost civilization," Zuko said. "Who's going to answer that?"

"I don't know," Aang said. "So what are we supposed to do?"

"Contemplate our place in the universe?" Zuko offered. Aang laughed at that. Zuko wished the goop hadn't slathered over his head. It pulled at his hair and filled his good ear, leaving him alarmingly unable to hear. Not with his full, almost preternatural capacity, anyway.

"Zuko?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry I didn't accept you when I first saw you," Aang said.

"I needed to earn your trust back," Zuko said. "Especially after what I did in Ba Sing Se."

"That's not it," Aang said. "I was so angry when I saw you. When you said what you did. Talking about the way I was three years ago. It's almost like I'm ashamed that I was ever that kid that Sokka and Katara found in the iceberg."

"We've all got things we're not proud of, and some of them just don't make sense," Zuko said.

"What aren't you proud of?"

"The last six months, obviously," Zuko said. "I gave up my honor for fame and money. Shameful."

"But you're here now. Well, with us, now. I don't think any of us could have foreseen _this_," Aang said, obviously intending to motion to himself, but unable to.

Zuko couldn't help but smile at that. "And you were right," Zuko said. "In that cave in the North. I had everything I needed, and was fighting to get praise from people who hated me."

"That's the past, Zuko," Aang said. "We need to keep moving forward, or history will just run us right over."

Zuko was about to say something, but a face appeared over his own, staring down at him. Zuko let out a clipped yell of surprise. He hadn't heard the man coming. Then again, with his hearing fouled, it was astounding he could hear anything at all. The man shouted something, which Zuko had to think about for a long moment. The language wasn't anything he'd ever heard before. He wished he'd had the foresight to bring Ty Lee along. She'd taken a class on ancient languages.

"I don't speak that language," Zuko said slowly. The man scowled, then reached over for a bucket of something which he splashed over Zuko's head. It stank of vinegar and hurt his eyes.

"_What are you doing here_?" the man repeated, but in a very ancient, argot form of Hui Huojian.

"_We didn't intend to cause any harm,_" Zuko said, choosing his words carefully. Hui was a very precise language, and since he didn't speak it, he had to be extremely clear what he meant. He turned to look over to Aang, and was surprised when his ear pulled out of the goop with a sucking sound. His head was loose. Whatever had been dumped onto Zuko's head was a kind of solvent! "_I'm trying to get help and teaching._"

"_You tried to steal our sunstone,_" the man said. Zuko, now able to crane his neck a bit, could see that there were others in the room. Their hair tended to be in the same pony-tail his had been when he vanished into his banishment. He'd only chosen that style at the time because it was the only thing he could really do with so much of his hair cut away to deal with the burns. "_Your punishment will be severe._"

"What are they saying?" Aang asked, distress clear on his face. It was probably the first time in the Avatar's life that he wasn't able to communicate with somebody.

"_We didn't come here to steal your sunstone,_" Zuko said, watching as somebody retrieved it from the goop. "_We don't even know what a sunstone is. We came here to learn the truth of firebending. For too long, it has been poisoned by the influence of my great-grandfather, a style to be utilized only by rage and hatred. But I know that it can be done another way. I wish to understand the truth of the Fire. I never imagined that the Sun Warriors would still be alive. Your presence humbles me. I wish to learn the true art of firebending, the way it was meant to be practiced._"

"Well?" Aang asked.

"I told them why we're here," Zuko said.

"It took you a while to say it!" Aang pointed out.

"Just feel lucky we can talk with them at all!" Zuko said, annoyed. A man gently moved the man staring down at Zuko aside. This one wore an intricate headdress, which probably meant he was in charge. He leaned down, and Zuko could feel the double flame headdress of Roku being taken off of his head. "Hey! That isn't yours!"

"_What is your name?_" the possible-chieftain asked. "_And how did you come across this object?_"

"_I am Zuko. I am..._" Zuko hesitated. Was it true? He decided that he didn't care anymore. Even if it wasn't accurate, it felt true to him, and it resonated more than what he had been raised to believe ever did. Even if it damned him. "_I am the Dark Prince, bastard son of Fire Lady Ursa by Prince Iroh of the Fire Nation. I am great grandson of Avatar Roku, and it is by that lineage that I have that object._"

The chieftain gave a look of surprise when Zuko revealed his heritage. In a way, it was a relief to finally have it off his chest, even if it was to total strangers. After a few moments, the chieftain shouted out an order, and Zuko had more of that stinging, stinking liquid dumped onto his body. Aang was given a similar treatment, and the two finally got to their feet. Whoever did the cleaning was not going to be amused by the state of them when they got back. If they got back.

"_If you wish to learn from Agni himself, you must learn it from his chosen messengers, Ran and Shao_," the chieftain said. "_You will present yourself to them. They will read your hearts, your souls, and your ancestry. If they find you worthy, they will reveal the ways of the Sun to you, the true art of firebending. If they find you unworthy, they will destroy you on the spot._"

The chieftain handed back Roku's headpiece, and Zuko quickly put it back into its place. In truth, ever since he learned what he did in the wake of the summer solstice, he felt a bit naked without it. Aang walked over, holding his arms away before creating a sphere of air, blowing the remaining goop and stinking solvent away. The smell still lingered. "So what just happened?" Aang asked.

"We're going to be tested," Zuko said. "If the firebending masters consider us worthy, they'll teach us. If not, they kill us."

"How are they testing us? And what for?" Aang asked.

"I'm not sure," Zuko said, following the Sun Warriors as they moved out of the sunstone chamber and through the ruins. He still couldn't peg down why the architecture here reminded him so much of the waterbenders in the North. The resemblance of some of the buildings was uncanny. "I don't know if this is going to go well for us," Zuko admitted. "Sozin started the tradition of hunting dragons for glory. It's my family's fault that the dragons are gone."

"Don't worry," Aang said. "I'm sure if it comes down to it, I'll think of something. Besides, they're not going to kill me. I'm the Avatar!"

"And you're a century too late," Zuko pointed out. "If you hadn't hidden in an iceberg for a century, Sozin would have never had a chance to start hunting dragons. This is on you, too."

"Gee, you always know how to make me feel better," Aang said glumly.

The Sun Warriors began to walk the two up another structure, this one kept clear of greenery, the paint still fresh, the gold still lustrous. At the top, similar to the fairly vain and egocentric statue of Ozai in Fire Fountain City, a great red flame burned. A crowd, arrayed in layers of semi-circles, parted to let the chieftain and the outsiders through. The chieftain waved a hand toward the flame, and part of it stuck to his hand, bathing it but somehow not burning it.

"_All those among us who see the Masters must bring them an offering of fire,_" the chieftain said. "_This fire was the very first ever given to Man by the dragons, delivered from the body of Agni himself. It has burned for thousands of years._"

"I can't believe it," Zuko said, his hand drifting toward the massive conflagration without his even realizing it. He quickly pulled it back before it began to sear him. The chieftain spread the fire to his other hand, then gathered it into a pair of spheres which hovered above his palms. They burned so tightly that they looked like solid objects.

"_Each of you must take a seed of this fire to the Masters,_" the chieftain said, "_You must keep it alive through the night, and present it to the Masters at the dawn to show your commitment to the art of firebending._"

Zuko took the flame into his hand. It pulsed slowly, warmly. "_It's like a tiny heartbeat,_" Zuko said. Zuko quickly gave the gist to Aang, but as he was, the chieftain continued.

"_This task will be dangerous,_" the chieftain said. Zuko began to just translate as he heard. "_Not all who undertake this ritual survive. Fire is life, both creation and destruction. As firebenders, we must walk a razor's edge between the creative and destructive impulses, or else fall. This ritual mirrors that commitment. If your seed is not given sufficient strength, it will gutter and die, and the Masters will teach you nothing, and deem you unworthy. If you impart too much of your strength to it, _you_ will die._"

Zuko translated that before it sunk in. "_Wait, if we control the flame, it will not harm us._"

"_It is not control that will be lacking,_" the chieftain said. "_But you have spoken enough. Go out into the forest to the north. You will see a cave flanked by two rivers. Before it is a stone unlike any around it. Wait there until the dawn. Then, the masters will decide your fate._"

The people parted again, giving Zuko and Aang a path out of the crowd. "So, what do we do now?"

"What they want us to," Zuko said, unsteadily. "Just be careful with your flame. Not too much nor too little."

"Moderation in all things," Aang said, but he was clearly nervous.

The two left the city, moving out into the night and through the jungle. The direction they were pressing wasn't as thick as the way they had come, and since they could follow the path of the stream, it wasn't hard for them to reach the cave.

"Is this the place?" Aang asked. Zuko looked over the site, the sphere of fire in his hand giving illumination. The grass grew up to, and not past, a perfect hexagon set into the ground, the ground sloping starkly down and away in all directions, a good distance before the trees encroached. Aang reached down and rapped on it with his knuckles. "Zuko, this isn't stone."

"What is it, then?"

"I don't know," Aang said. "But this is where we have to wait, isn't it?"

Zuko knelt down one one point of the hexagon, Aang opposite him. "So what do we do now?" Zuko asked.

"Well, we could contemplate our place in the universe," Aang offered, a grin on his face. Zuko shot him a scowl, but let the din of the forest suffuse his senses.

Hours passed, and Zuko began to find himself growing tired. More tired than he should have. Like he had run all the way to Ashfall and back from the Royal Palace. Aang began to slump. "Aang, wake up!" Zuko snapped. Aang's eyes popped open. "If you fall asleep, you won't be able to keep firebending."

"I know. I'm just really tired for some reason," Aang said.

"I feel it too," Zuko said. "But keep your wits about you. There must be a reason why they say this ritual is deadly."

Aang nodded. "Hey Zuko?"

"Yeah?"

"Does your fire feel like it's alive?" Aang asked.

"A bit."

"It's like a little heartbeat," Aang said. Zuko smiled, nodding at the similar thought he'd had. Aang mulled for a moment. Something was on his mind.

"What is it, Aang?"

"You hunted dragons... when your great grandfather... destroyed my people, did you hunt down the Sky Bison?" he asked.

Zuko shook his head. "No. He planned to, but... After the last day of the Purge, sightings of Sky Bison just... stopped. Like they just vanished from the world. I'd never really thought about it," Zuko said. Aang nodded, but his eyes stayed on the flame.

Hours passed, and Zuko had to start throwing pebbles at Aang to keep him aware. Every few minutes, he started to slump again, and only a jolt of pain kept him cogent. "I really want to sleep," Aang said.

"I understand," Zuko said. "But we can't screw this up. This is the last chance I... we have. I'm running out of 'last chances'."

"Maybe you should just keep talking," Aang said, his eyes heavily lidded.

"About what?" Zuko asked.

"Something. Anything. Your Uncle," Aang said.

"I'm not sure he's my uncle," Zuko said. "Not anymore."

"But how could he not be your uncle?" Aang asked.

"My..." Zuko took a calming breath, but for some reason, it still stung at him, almost like it was shameful. Like _he_ was shameful. "My parents didn't love each other. It was an arranged marriage, orchestrated by Azulon for reasons we never knew. But Iroh knew her before, and the two of them were close. When she married my father, there was already a... relationship between she and Iroh. One that he only put a stop to twenty years ago."

"You're nineteen," Aang said.

"Exactly," Zuko said. "For all I know, Iroh is my father."

"I bet that makes you happy," Aang said distantly.

"Stay awake!" Zuko roared, and the Avatar popped back up. Zuko softened a bit. He felt like he needed to sleep for a week, himself. "It would. If I could just see him again. Tell him that I finally understand what he was doing for me."

"I know he forgives you."

"Maybe I just need to say it to his face," Zuko said. He stopped, his drowsy mind wandering. "I wonder if he was right about Azula?"

"What?"

"He said that because of my lineage, good and evil would always fight in my soul, that I could bring balance. Well, father or uncle, Azula has practically the same lineage. So why is she our enemy? Why didn't _she_ join you?"

"She almost did," Aang said quietly. Zuko was now completely awake, staring in shock.

"She _what_?" Zuko asked.

"During the Invasion," Aang said slowly. "I could see it in her eyes. She wanted to believe Ty Lee, she wanted to stop being afraid. But she couldn't take that step, that leap of faith."

Zuko shook his head. "My sister..."

"Zuko," Aang said. "The sun's coming up."

"I know," Zuko said. "I can feel it," Zuko tried to stand, but weariness dragged at him. He felt like he'd been awake for a month, and just finished a sprint the length of the East Continent. Aang looked even worse, his skin gone pale. His lips were blue and his eyes didn't seem able to focus on anything. "Come on, you need to get up."

"Just gimme five more minutes," Aang slurred. Zuko crawled across the hexagon, and slapped the Avatar across the face. It didn't seem to work. Zuko growled in frustration, and pushed himself up under the Avatar's unused arm, hoisting the both of them to their feet. The sun began to creep over the trees, and its light illuminated the clearing.

Sun Warriors had arrived in the night, watching from the trees. Zuko turned, facing the stream which moved along the bottom of the hill, and beyond it, to the cave. "It's dawn. It's time," Zuko said. He felt something odd in his hand. The heartbeat ceased, and he now longer felt himself growing more tired. Now, it was just like he was keeping a lantern alight, rather than trying to burn the entire world on his own. It was as though, in the darkness, that sphere of fire was pulling the energy out of him, and into itself.

Then he heard a crackle, followed by a rumble from deep in the earth. "I don't feel so good," Aang said.

"Don't worry," Zuko said. "Whatever comes, if it won't teach us, then I'll be able to take them."

Aang nodded, keeping that fire in his hand. The Avatar was beginning to feel cold to the touch. Around them, the Sun Warriors began to bend fire, forming discs which they held above their heads, bathing the hillock in a golden glow. And the rumbling came closer. Finally, blasting up from the ground was an immensely long form, red as blood, its great wings and four legs trailing as it surged into the air. A few moments later, another followed, blue as the waters off of Grand Ember. Two dragons. Impossible.

"Still think you can take 'em?" Aang asked, his head hanging.

"I never said that!" Zuko whispered urgently. The crackling sound came again, and Zuko looked into his hand. The dragons above loomed in close, their wings beating a wind into the clearing. "Aang, hold up your hand!" Zuko shouted above the wind. Aang did exactly that, showcasing the flame above. Then, Zuko heard a crack. As he watched, his eyes growing wide, the sphere of fire in his hand split open, and a tiny fire began to leak out of it, spiraling and growing as it wafted into the air. Aang's did the same.

Aang's released fire moved up and away, a living snake of flame moving through the air, until it reached the great red dragon. The scarlet dragon reached out one of its whiskers to the fire, and the fire vanished up it and into the mane on its back. Zuko's fire, on the other hand, did not approach the dragons. It looped back, crawling around Zuko's shoulders like a ferret-lizard. And then, Zuko began to feel feet. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched in amazement as that tiny fire slowly began to dim, its body forming out of the flames. It was a tiny red dragon, its body coiled around Zuko's neck, its eyes staring up at him. It reached up, its tiny whisker touching his face. Zuko felt it relate something. Birth.

"The ritual," Zuko said, his vigor beginning to return to him. "It wasn't just a test. It was a task."

"What do you mean?" Aang asked, still not recovered.

"They're waiting for something," Zuko said. "But what?"

"Maybe they want us to dance?" Aang asked, his eyes bleary. Zuko stared at him. Of course.

"Do you think you've got one more in you?" Zuko asked. Aang moved away, and the two stood before the hovering dragons. Then, they both began to flow through the Katas from the sunstone chamber. As they did, the dragons above began to move with them, their sinuous bodies following. The dance was an emulation of the movements of a dragon! When the dance was finished, the dragons stopped, landing on the ground, each one of them staring down.

"_The time of judgment has come,_" the chieftain said from the trees.

"_Breakfast time for the Masters,_" the suspicious fellow who had confronted Zuko said, from nearby. Even the cheiftain shot him a withering glance at that.

But the dragons stared down. One, blue, looked away, and the red one mounted high. Then, it breathed down on the two of them. Zuko tried frenetically to pull up a fire shield, but he couldn't manage even that. The fire bathed him... and it didn't hurt in the slightest. It didn't even singe his clothing. In fact, inside that fire, golden and glowing, he felt renewed. He felt invigorated! He felt stronger and more resilient than he ever had before! Beside him, Aang was coming back to life, his eyes shining as he looked up into the flame which washed over him.

"It's so beautiful," Aang said.

"Fire isn't just destruction," Zuko said. The red one, Ran, Zuko somehow knew, pulled back, and then both began to breathe down fire, surrounding the Avatar and the Dark Prince. Shao, the blue, joined it, and the flames, golden from the former and electric blue from the latter joined, creating a dizzying array of colors, textures within the flames. It was glorious.

"I understand," Aang said, tears in his eyes. Zuko had them as well.

The dragons ceased their firebending, and quickly departed back down into the cave, leaving the two youths stunned, blinking away the afterimage of so much fire. Zuko bowed to the chieftain, who was moving up the hill. "_I understand,_" Zuko repeated. "_The task was to serve the dragons. To incubate their young using our chi to feed them._"

"_Yes_," came the reply. "_Not all are viable, but enough are that the Masters have never lost patience or faith with us. The last time an outsider took part in this task was almost a generation ago, when a firebender from the south came here, seeking the dragon. He found Shao, alone, but did not fight her. Instead, he befriended the Master, and spoke with her. And he undertook the task without our permission, but from that trespass, Ran was born, a mate to Shao_."

"_So Iroh didn't kill the last dragon,_" Zuko said. "_He saved it, and gave it back something more?_"

"_Your father kept the word he gave us, that he would spread the word that the last dragon was dead,_" the chieftain said. Zuko glanced around, and he could see other forms, some no larger than snakes, others as large as eel hounds, moving in the forest. Dragons, all. "_And doing so, their numbers have finally started to grow_."

Aang nodded as Zuko translated. "I always thought, since I got out of the iceberg, that fire was destruction. But it's also life. It's like a little sun inside us all. Did you ever realize that?"

The chieftain cracked a grin at the translated question. "_Well, our people_ are _called the_ _Sun_ _Warriors_, _so_ _yes_."

Zuko turned, facing the sky. "For so many years, I've been eating at the hatred Ozai fueled me with. Now, I can see a new day," He cast out his hand, free of that rush of rage or that grunt of angry effort. A brilliant golden blaze shot away from his hand. "Firebending is an art of balance. That is my purpose. You are going to bring balance back to this world, and I'm going to help you."

"_Now that you know these secrets, and of this Fire Tribe's existence, I am afraid that we cannot let you leave,_" the chieftain said, a ball each of golden and greenish fire appearing above his hands. "_You must remain here for the rest of your lives._" Zuko looked at Aang, who stared back in shock and despair. Then, the chieftain broke a grin, and began to laugh. The people around began to snuff their flames. "_Just kidding. But seriously, don't tell anybody._"

* * *

Sokka looked up from Combustion Man's disassembled leg, the most recent of his mechanistic endeavors, as he heard Aang's glider snap shut and the grunting landing of Zuko as he was dropped into the fountain plaza. Zuko popped up, dusting himself and making sure his hairpiece was still in place. "So, did you learn any new jerkbending?" Sokka asked. Zuko smiled, and then thrust forward, a blast of flame searing from his fist. Sokka let out a yelp and pitched backward into the fountain. Zuko appeared overhead, a smile on his face.

"A bit," Zuko said, offering a hand.

"You could have burnt my face off!" Sokka said, trying to shake some of the wet off without scattering the pieces of the prosthetic.

"Naw, he wouldn't have," Aang said. Zuko began to do a bunch of moves that looked like he was dancing, but with many of those dance moves, fire blasted away from him. As his dance-like movements came to a halt, something crawled up out of Zuko's shirt and coiled around his neck. It was a... tiny dragon?

"These new forms give me an incredible amount of control and precision," Zuko said. "I could have swatted a fly on your forehead without singing your eyebrows."

"I'll take your word on that," Sokka said. "By the way, Mai and Katara are back."

"They went somewhere?" Aang asked, bewildered.

* * *

_Leave a review._


	15. Pound of Flesh

**Why did I do it like this? It seemed appropriate. That, and I always wondered what would happen if you took the Zu out of Zutara and the ko out of Maiko, put them on a bison together, and watched them bicker. Mai still has a Fire Nation outlook on the world, since she wasn't out in the world as long as Ty Lee was. So she is prone to a bit of... racism?**

**For those that recall my off-hand comment that Azula throws lightning bolts, but Katara throws thunderstorms... Well, you might just want to read.**

**Also: Fun with Toph and Teo. The toughest people have the hardest time being soft.**

* * *

"So then Iroh turns to me and says; leaf me alone, I'm bushed," Zuko said. Those around him stared at him, and he got a look of embarrassment. Somebody, and it wasn't clear who, coughed in the silence. "Yeah, I never could tell that one as well as he could."

"It was a nice try," Sokka said, wanly. Mai just waited until Zuko stopped playing tea-server and sat down next to her. He handed her one last cup.

"I can't believe everybody's together again," Ty Lee said happily beside the Tribesman. At some point, Mai was going to have to have a conversation with the acrobat who had at some point decided she needed terribly to be an airbender. Amongst the most important topics was why she'd decided to fall so obviously for a barbarian. But it wasn't Mai's problem by any means. If Ty Lee wanted to eat pemmican and shiver in the dark, it was her choice. "It's just like old times, only better!"

"Right," Mai said evenly. "Three Fire Nation nobles drinking tea around the fire with people who by all rights should be our enemies."

"You know, if you _really_ want it to feel like old times," Zuko said, running his fingers along his beard, "I could throw some fireballs at you, kidnap Katara, and make your life hell for a couple of months?"

"Hah hah," the waterbender said flatly enough that Mai could be excused for thinking the utterance had come out of her own mouth. The others seemed to think that was actually funny, though. Sokka, keeping with that spirit, raised his glass of tea.

"To Zuko! The Angry Jerk who brought our family back together again!"

Zuko actually smiled at that. Much as she would never admit it, Mai loved to see Zuko smile. "I'm touched. Really I am," he said, waving away phantom admirers. "I don't deserve such praise."

"No kidding," the waterbender said again. Zuko's eye flicked over to her, but then down, his mood descending. She stood and walked away, leaving the Avatar and the others looking a bit confounded. Well, except for the earthbender, but she didn't seem to care. Mai and Toph got along famously.

"What's up with her?" Sokka asked.

"I have no idea," Mai said, getting to her feet. Zuko looked up at her, as though asking if she wanted him to come. Her flat glance gave him an answer of no. She began to move after the waterbender. She might not be a bender herself, but she was an Azuli woman, and Katara was a possible threat to somebody that Mai loved. Azuli women never dealt kindly with threats.

"What's up with _her_?" Sokka asked again, this time of a different woman. "Hey, what day is it?"

"It's been about twelve, thirteen days since the Eclipse, so..."

"It's my birthday!" the Tribesman cheerfully proclaimed. Mai rolled her eyes, thankful that it was the last part of the conversation she heard before she moved out of earshot. Mai moved through the darkness, which was how she moved best. She once got tested for firebending ability when she was young; it was said that she could have been a decent bender, but she never really wanted to go down that path. It held no interest for her. She didn't like things bright. Bright hurt her eyes. Dark was better. Dark was private and intimate and free.

"You and I have a problem," Mai said, standing at the waterbender's door. She seldom came to this room, Mai had noticed in her three days here. More often than not, the dark skinned young woman spent her time with the Avatar. Which _could_ be a problem for Mai. Needless to say, she preferred to be blunt when she could. Katara seemed a bit confused. "Zuko joins you, trains the Avatar, and even does the impossible, breaking your father and some of your old, lost friends out of what should be an inescapable prison – although in hindsight, I probably should see if Suki is still holding sore feelings for that little fight outside of Ba Sing Se – and how do you treat him? With suspicion and aggression."

"He's earned it," Katara said, not backing down. Which was impressive, because Mai was, as Ty Lee frequently said, 'spooky'. "So everybody else trusts him. I don't care. I trusted him before anybody else did. And do you know what happened? He betrayed us. Aang _died_ because I thought I could trust Zuko."

Mai raised an eyebrow. "Is this going to be a problem?" she asked flatly. "Is there some sort of blood price or pound of flesh you people extract for these sorts of things?"

"Pound of flesh?" Katara asked. "You want a pound of flesh? How about you get him to go back and reconquer Ba Sing Se? Or maybe he can bring the Earth King back to life!" tears suddenly formed at the corners of the woman's eyes. "Or maybe he can give my mother back!"

"What does your mother have to do with this?" Mai asked. But Katara turned away, throwing the covers over herself. Mai didn't like being confused, and she was fairly certain that she would get no further answers out of the waterbender. Not tonight anyway. Mai turned and walked out into the darkness.

Mai could understand why people held such strong feelings for their parents. It was just that she didn't. Or rather, the only strong feelings she did feel weren't very nice. She hated being shuffled around, being used by them. There were days where the only thing keeping her from going on a house-wide stabbing spree were the gentle words of an idealistic, soft-hearted idiot. An idiot now drinking tea with the Avatar next to a fire in an Air Nomad temple. Life was strange.

Mai pondered what she had just learned, and began to file it away with everything else she'd learned. Ty Lee's paramour wasn't the only reason Mai needed to have a long conversation with the girl; she had heard unfortunate rumors, stirrings that she hoped, for the girl's sake, weren't true. But the rumors Mai accumulated had an unfortunate tendency to be accurate. Painfully so. Azula had called Mai her most trusted assassin. Ironic since Mai had decided long ago never to kill anybody if she could help it. But she understood what Azula was talking about.

There was another thing. Mai had been perfectly certain her betrayal would end with her death. Azula was throwing lightning. Mai had seen her do it enough times to recognize when it was coming. But it had... backfired. Mai had never known Azula to be anything but the most dangerous, deadly woman in the Fire Nation, and one who never failed at anything she had already achieved mastery in. And yet, she failed with the lightning.

Mai decided that she didn't have enough information. Despite long, deep thought, things weren't clicking into place. And if she was going to do her womanly duty to Zuko – and damn Mother for making her think in those terms in the first place – she was going to need to talk to somebody who knew more about it. Mai stopped idly playing with her knives and started to move through the darkness, like a shadow in the night. Eventually, she came to the room that Ty Lee and the Tribesman shared. It was softly lit, which meant it was probably occupied.

Mai pushed through the door, and was confronted by a wall of candles. Ty Lee was laying on the floor, facing away, essentially naked. "Oh, So-o-o-o-okka?" she said lustily. "Want to open your birthday pr...?" Ty Lee turned over, then let out a shriek. Mai tweezed her brow, then leaned over and threw a blanket at the acrobat. When Mai finally raised her gaze, Ty Lee was as red as the blanket around her.

"Nice gift idea," Mai said. She reached down and picked up a flowery necklace on the ground. "I would have gone with something a bit more spicy, but you always were one for the simple things."

"What are you doing here?" Ty Lee asked, her embarrassment slowly fading. Or her blush was, in any case.

"I need to talk to your lover," Mai said simply, standing beside the door. It opened again, and this time, Sokka leaned against the doorframe, a flower 'twixt his teeth.

"Well, hellooooo," Sokka said. Then he turned to his left and spotted Mai. He bit down on the flower, and it fell away, before he coughed and spit the stem onto the floor. "Uh, Mai! Right! Why would I expect anybody different? In my room. On my birthday. With my girlfriend."

"We need to talk," Mai said simply. "Your sister holds a great deal of antipathy toward Zuko, and I want to know why."

"Um... why?" Sokka asked.

"Because I want to keep him safe," Mai said, crossing her arms in front of her. She didn't have much of a bosom to speak of, so the gesture was more distancing then distracting, quite unlike when Ty Lee would do it. "In order to keep him safe, I need to take certain things into account. Aang trusts him. So do you, Ty Lee, the earthbender, and the other children. But she does not, and I'm fairly sure you know why."

"Keep him safe?" Ty Lee asked. "I never heard you talk like that about him before."

"He might be a dork, but he's _my_ dork," Mai said simply. "So tell me, why does Katara hate Zuko so much," Sokka opened his mouth, a glib expression on his face. "And if you answer 'unresolved sexual tension', you're going to get a new hole for a birthday present."

Sokka rethought his answer. "I don't think she really hates him. She doesn't hate anybody. Except for the Fire Nation," Sokka said. She stared blankly at him, and he blanched. "I mean, except for bad people in the Fire Nation," she continued to stare. "I mean, except for bad people that didn't become good people whenever they got their first opportunity to..."

"Stop," Mai said. She gave a glance to the gift-wrapped woman on the bed. Ty Lee just shook her head, a smile on her face. "This might seem non-sequitur, but I want you to tell me about your mother."

Sokka seemed a bit baffled. "Why would _you_ want to hear about that?" he said, his tone guarded. She guessed he still had some deep-running feelings about his mother. Mai could empathize. Only, the feelings she held weren't good ones. "I thought you just didn't care about anything."

"I care about what I wish to," Mai said simply. "I believe your sister has connected her anger at Zuko to whatever happened to her mother. This needs to be resolved before she does something that makes _me_ have to do something. Because nobody will like what happens when _I_ have to do something."

Sokka moved and sat down beside Ty Lee. She draped her blanket over him somewhat, but his mind was going to places that his groin couldn't follow. "It's not a day I like to think about," Sokka said. "We'd gone almost a generation without the Raiders coming. I was young, barely more than a child. And Katara was even younger. Dad and the hunters were out trying to bring down enough yak otters to keep us in oil for the rest of the year, and the herd was so big that they all went out at once. It was a mistake. The Raiders were waiting for an opportunity. They were clever. They cut their engines, moving only when the wind was at their bows, blowing the ash snow away. Until they were right there, on our doorstep."

Sokka sighed, leaning back. "They came like a wave," Sokka said. "Mom and a few others fought back. Denna and Sedna and young Sandiq, a few others. But they were brutally outnumbered, and all of the best fighters were away. But the wind shifted, blowing the ash snow, and they started to come back, attacking the Raiders' boats. By then, they'd already taken the village, rounding up all the women and children. Sandiq was fifteen, and they slit his throat and let him bleed into the snow. Sedna, she still fought back. They did awful things to her, I hear. I was out there, trying to get the men to come back. As soon as they saw me, they stopped fighting the soldiers and rushed home. Even with all our fighters together, we were still so badly outnumbered..."

Sokka leaned forward, confusion on his face. "But then they just... left. I never understood why. They came to our home, brutalized and killed some of the children. Sedna was raped, and Ked's little sister turned out to be a war bastard. And Mom... she got worse than anybody. I think... I think they made Katara watch," Sokka said quietly. "So yeah. Katara has plenty of reason to hate the Fire Nation."

Mai frowned. She didn't doubt if she went anywhere in the world, she could hear a story like that. The Fire Nation used to be the most disciplined army in the world, but when Azulon's mind began to slip, and worse, when Ozai came into control, more and more such atrocities started to crawl through the cracks. It was quite possible that thousands of golden or brown eyed children were growing up in the Water Tribes or the Earth Kingdom. She liked to think Azul, always contrary and hidebound to the point of madness, wouldn't take part in that sort of depravity. She knew she was probably fooling herself.

"Do you remember anything about the boats?" Mai asked. Sokka frowned, thinking.

"Sea ravens on the flags," Sokka said. "Two of them, black against red."

"The Southern Raiders," Mai said. "I've heard of their... exploits. They were formed to make sure when the current Avatar," she motioned out toward where the airbending master was still probably before a fire, "died, the new Avatar would be born a child in their possession. I don't see why. It seems like a stupid idea. It could just as easily be born in the North. Or in Great Whales, apparently."

"No, it pretty much alternates north and south," Ty Lee said. "And sometimes Whalesh."

"Right," Mai said. "You've been helpful."

Mai turned and walked away, but Ty Lee quickly caught up to her, standing wrapped in a blanket. "Mai, what are you going to do?"

"If Katara can't find a useful outlet for her rage, she might turn it on somebody I love," Mai said, her tone slipping away from her. "I won't allow that to happen. If that means I have to help a barbarian Tribesman get revenge against some poor examples of my own nation, so be it."

"No," Ty Lee said. "You can't kill him."

"Why not?" Mai asked. "He probably deserves it, if anything your lover says is accurate."

"Violence isn't the way," Ty Lee said, a very earnest look on her face. "Revenge is like a two headed rat-viper. Even as you watch your enemy die, you're succumbing to the poison yourself. She has to forgive him. It's the only way she'll know peace."

Mai just stared at her old friend. "Aang really has gotten to you, hasn't he?"

"No. Well, a bit," she said. "But the forgiveness stuff is all mine. Please. Don't let her anger kill the good inside her."

"That will be _her_ choice to make," Mai said flatly, before walking into the darkness.

* * *

Katara turned, her mind unable to coax itself into sleep. Only a year ago, she could sleep like the dead, but now? Now, she slept as little as Ty Lee, albeit suffering the consequences much more. She finally gave up, sitting in place for a moment, pulling the long hair away from her eyes. It plastered to her brow, stuck in the sweat. The heat seemed to cling, suffocating in the high summer. Even the night didn't offer much in the way of relief. She stood and began to wander.

"It's about time you got up," Mai's voice came the instant she opened her door. Katara gave a start. The gloomy woman was standing opposite the door, juggling her knives in one hand idly as she leaned against the pillar. "I was afraid I was going to have to wait until sunrise."

"What do you want?" Katara asked, sharper than she intended. No, that wasn't true. Mai hadn't done anything to prove herself on Aang's side. Ty Lee at least spent the last half a year and more trying to make up for her mistakes, and Katara could appreciate that. But this woman? She was Zuko's creature, nothing more.

"I know who killed your mother," Mai said. "And I'm going to help you find him."

Katara's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"Because you're out of control," Mai said flatly. Katara was about to say something, but Mai cut her off. "I don't like things which are out of control. You don't know Zuko like I do, because if you did, you'd know that once he commits to something, there is no force in the universe that can sway him, not for long. He has committed to the Avatar. And still, you have that look in your eye like you're waiting for a chance to kill him."

"I don't have..." Katara said, but Mai's flat glare brought her to a standstill.

"The first thing a noble learns is the look somebody gets in their eye when they want to kill you," Mai said, her tone hollow. "You've had that look as long as I've been here. And I think its because you blame Zuko for what happened to your mother."

"I don't..." Katara said, but again Mai cut her off.

"And you shouldn't," she said. Katara was getting very annoyed at the grey eyed assassin. "Zuko got banished because he was _too kind_. He had nothing to do with what happened to your family. And if the only way I can get that through your skull is to give you your blood price, then I'll do it. I won't let you, or anybody, hurt Zuko."

"And why should I believe you're willing to do this?" Katara asked.

"Because I know you need somebody like me," Mai said. "You need an assassin. I'm the next best thing. You need somebody with intimate knowledge of how the Fire Nation military works. I'm the next best thing. And most importantly," Mai stopped leaning and caught her knives between long, nimble fingers, "you need somebody who doesn't give one good goddamn about what choice you make when you see that man. And that's me."

"How is this going to happen?" Katara asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"We leave now. We take that fuzzy beast and we fly into the night. We come back when we're done. Simple. Clean. Tidy. If that monster is as fast as it seems, it should only take us a few days to get there and back. But still, I recommend we leave now."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want somebody talking you out of this before we do," Mai said simply, turning to walk away. Katara was flabbergasted, but at the same time, she knew her course. For the first time in her life, she thirsted for revenge. Revenge against that man with the dark eyes and the cruel brow and the crueler actions. Revenge against the man who took her mother away from her. She moved back into her room, gathering her old clothes and a bottle of dye. It wouldn't be ideal, but it would do the job.

When Katara came back out, Ty Lee was standing in front of the door, looking like she was trying to decide if she was going to enter or not. "What are you doing here?" Katara asked. The airbender was wearing a blanket, but little else.

"Katara, you have to stop and think about this," she said urgently. "Please, revenge isn't the answer to this."

"You don't know anything about me or my mother," Katara said. "You don't know anything about my culture, my ways, or the pain I've felt. Now that I know where he is, I don't have a choice anymore."

"You always have a choice. I know that you are going to face him. When you do, please, forgive him, so you can move on with your life," Ty Lee begged.

"Forgiving him would be the same as doing nothing," Katara said bitterly.

"No, it isn't. It's much harder," Ty Lee said. "It's one of the hardest things anybody can do. I know. I've had to earn a lot of it."

"Maybe it's not just hard," Katara said, shifting her bag of things up onto her back. "Maybe it's impossible."

"Don't talk like that," Ty Lee said, moving as though to give Katara a hug, then remembering that she was mostly naked. And then giving Katara a hug anyway. "You used to be so full of mercy and kindness."

"That was a long time ago," Katara said, extricating herself from the woman. Ty Lee nodded, sadly.

"Alright. You need to face this man. I get that. But when you do... just remember who you are. Don't put your hatred, your revenge before your heart and your mind. They're the best parts of you," Ty Lee said. "Let your anger out, but then just let it go. Don't hold onto it, or it will eat away at you."

"Just stay out of this," Katara said quietly. "This is my journey, not yours."

"I know," Ty Lee said, sadly. She looked back up with those dark brown eyes. "I hope you find what you need."

"I don't doubt for an instant that I will," Katara said grimly, before moving through the night, toward the bison pens. Appa was awaiting her. She threw her things into the saddle and quietly got the bison into the air, wafting southwest, away from the Fire Nation.

"At least we won't need to worry about the barricade," Mai said, sitting in the back of the saddle. "Ever since the Fire Nation declared war on Great Whales, they've stopped monitoring the south seas, and just started attacking."

"That's one bit of good news. Where are we going?" she asked.

"There is a communications hub ten hours by ship from where we were. Since I have only a passing knowledge of this beast's speed, I can only say, it would be better if we arrived there before sunrise," Mai said. Katara frowned.

"You should stop calling Appa a beast," she said.

"Why?"

"Because he's not. He's a friend."

"Right," Mai said. She rolled her eyes, then continued. "Once we get in there, we need to find out where the Southern Raiders are berthed. They could be anywhere from the blockade at Whale Tail to the Bay of Kad Deid."

"So we bust in there and take the information," Katara said.

"No. If we do that, they could get warned, and our information will be useless. We need to do this with a touch of subtlety. Which makes it a good thing that I'm here. If you can keep up, you can come along. Do you think you have that in you, barbarian?" Mai asked.

"And there's another thing. If you keep calling me barbarian and 'Tribesman' and things which sound synonymous with 'backwater hick', then one of us is going to end up floating in the ocean, and with that," Katara cast her thumb at the nearly full moon in the sky, "working in my favor, it isn't going to be me."

Mai actually smiled at that. "Good to see that the waterbender has a backbone."

"The waterbender also has a name."

"And she has a job to do. Guide the fuzzy flying thing. I'm going to take a nap," Mai said. With that, she scootched into the corner of the saddle near all of their things and was almost immediately asleep. Katara didn't join her. She had to focus. Focus herself right to a spear-sharp point. Nothing less would do.

* * *

Toph sat, in the darkness which was her blindness and the additional darkness which was the night. She had outdrank and outcursed and outlasted everybody here. Which made sense. She'd been doing this sort of thing for a hundred and sixty five years. Only right now, there was a lot less alcohol involved, because she hadn't been able to convince the 'adults' to hand over their stash. It was not the first time that Toph regretted looking like she was about twelve.

She heard the crunch of wheels against the stone, and she brightened a bit, before very quickly calling control to herself. She got to her feet, dusting off her short pants and put what she assumed was a pleasant smile on her face. She never was completely sure. "Hey, there Teo," she said.

"Hey, Toph," he said. "Long night, huh?"

"Yeah," she said, fighting very hard not to blush. She didn't know why she was acting like such a... well, a girl. She'd done this dozens of times before. Well, that wasn't true at all. She'd never done _this_ before. "Are you enjoying your new take off ramp?"

"Oh, it's awesome," Teo said. He wheeled over and gave her a slug in the arm. "You should try it some time.

"Flying? Oh, no. I've got enough trouble riding around on Appa," Toph said. "Besides, how would that even work? If you haven't noticed, I'm blind."

"Well, there's room for two on the chair," Teo said. "Well, if you don't mind sitting on my lap."

Toph's laughter was both unexpected and extremely nervous. "Yeah, that'll be the day."

_Damn it_.

"Oh, well, the offer's still open. I bet you'd really enjoy yourself," Teo said. Toph walked beside him for a moment, trying to think of something to say which wouldn't be utterly moronic, pathetic, or girly. And once again, it wasn't until a few seconds later that Toph remembered that she was, in fact, a girl.

"Sooooo," Toph said. "Um... wanna make out?"

"Yes," Teo said.

"Nothing," Toph quickly answered, but then she realized what he'd said. "Wait, what?"

"You asked me if I wanted to make out. I don't see why not," Teo said. Toph's heart went from nervous to pounding its way through her ribs. Damn it all to Hell! She fought and killed dozens of Dai Li during the fall of Ba Sing Se! She held the Library of Wan Shi Tong in the mortal world despite its best efforts to the contrary! _She was the greatest earthbender in the damned world_! So why in the endless seas of Hell was she so nervous?

"So, how are we going to do this?" Toph asked, trying to sound more herself. It came out entirely too squeaky for her liking. Through her feet, she could see him extending an arm toward her. She took it, and he drew her onto his partial lap. She felt herself shiver when she leaned against his chest. She could feel his heartbeat. It wasn't going anywhere as fast as hers, which was distinctly unfair! Then, he gently pulled her chin up, and his lips met hers. It was warm, gentle, kind. And she was freaking out.

"You're really pretty," Teo said.

"I've gotta go," Toph said, jumping to her feet so fast that it actually knocked Teo over, dumping him out of his chair. "Oh, gods, I'm sorry. I... I'm just going to..."

"What the hell?" Teo asked, more surprised than angry.

"I... I've gotta go," Toph said, quickly moving away from the legless young man. She moved through the temple as fast as her underdeveloped body would, and slumped in a dirty corner somewhere. Even she wasn't completely sure where she was. "Yeah. That went well," she muttered to herself grumpily. "I'm _never_ going to be able to call Zuko a dork again after that performance."

And her heart still hammered in her breast.

* * *

"That's it?" Katara said, pointing to the tower which crouched on the rock in the middle of the ocean. Of course, the Fire Nation would take a piece of rock no larger than a house and build a military base on it. Mai looked through the spyglass and nodded.

"Yes. Now I'm going to get in there. If you think you can keep up..."

"You'll have to keep up with me," Katara countered. The sun would be rising soon, and they didn't have time to argue. She quickly snap froze a plane of ice, which she carried both women up the wall upon. To anybody watching from without, it would have just looked like a very large wave crashing against the rocks. But that was the least of their problems. Their arrival to this place was fortuitous. She knew from the conversations she'd had with Jet almost three years ago that people were always the most exhausted and least attentive right before the sun came up.

Mai wouldn't have even needed that. While Katara had dyed her spare clothing black during the trip, Mai had departed in her usual clothing, which was still more than dark enough to make it hard to see her. More impressively, the small bits of color she did have didn't draw attention; rather, they seemed to break up her outline. And she was fast. Katara now understood how Azula found them in the drill. Mai must have been leading her. She never made a sound. Even when the guards turned in her direction, there was never so much as an instant of cognizance. Even under their eyes, she was as invisible as a spirit.

Katara moved as well as she could, and was always one pause behind the taller woman, who finally made her way through a door, mere moments after the man had walked out of it. Katara dodged in, and Mai silently pointed them to a door, which was slightly ajar. Katara looked through. A woman was writing, her back to the infiltrators. Katara checked the door, then waved her hand, causing the ink to spatter from her brush onto her hands and armor, ruining the note. The woman let out a grunt of annoyance, and moved toward Katara. She hid behind the door as it swung open, and waited as that woman vanished through another door. Katara looked up. Mai was holding herself above the threshold, as nimbly as Ty Lee. Silently, both women entered the room.

"Southern... Raiders," Mai said both quietly and flatly. She ran long fingers over the racks of scrolls, until she found one to her liking. "Good. The ship is there, north of Pulse, moving back from the task force at Kad Deid."

"Let's go," Katara said. Mai nodded, and put the message away. As quietly as they got in, they got out. And nobody noticed a thing. In minutes, the sun only beginning to brighten the horizon, they were flying again, directly south, to the northernmost island of Great Whales. This time, Mai tried her hand at directing the bison. She seemed a bit apprehensive, which was understandable. Appa could be particular. As it was, though Appa just took Mai's presence stoically, not grunting either in happiness nor displeasure at her directing him.

"You should get some sleep," Mai said, trying to keep the white fur from sticking to her black clothing. It was an impossible task. Katara had years of experience with that. "You look like hell."

"And I appreciate your honesty," Katara said all-too-sweetly. Mai rolled her eyes. "I'm fine. I'll be ready for him. I'm not the helpless girl I was when he came to my village."

"And here we go," Mai muttered.

"Don't even," Katara said. "You never loved your mother like I did. Do you have any idea what they did to her? To the others? They came to that place looking for the last waterbender of the Southern Tribe. They were looking for me! But when they got there, the men were gone, and... they took their time 'interrogating' those who were left behind. The things they did to those women. Some were just beaten. Others got... far worse. They kept all of us there, so that the raiders could point at us and say they were going to kill one of us if they didn't give them the information they wanted. Sokka got away. He was always sneaky. He ran to Dad. But I... I saw what they did to Sedna. Because of the Raiders, Benell has to grow up knowing that she looks nothing like anybody else in her village. She looks more like _you_, Mai, then she does like me. And then, they started on M..." Katara broke off, tears pushing from her eyes. "On Mom. But she never stopped fighting them. He was brutal to her. But she never gave up. Then, when we could hear the men coming back, she told them what they wanted to hear."

"She gave you up?" Mai asked.

"No," Katara said, running her fingers over her mother's necklace. "She said that _she_ was the last waterbender. She begged them to take her prisoner, if it meant they would leave the rest of the village alone. But they weren't here to take prisoners. They made me watch as they... burnt her alive."

Silence came from the head of Appa. Even Mai didn't have a sarcastic comment for that. "That was... remarkably brave," Mai said. She almost sounded sad.

"Then, they all left. But I'll never forget that man. Those cruel, dark eyes. That face. And I'll never forgive him. He has to die for what he did. He took away my mother. He has to pay."

"If that's what you want," Mai said. She didn't go into any greater detail, though. She seemed to be trapped inside her own thoughts. Which was fine by Katara. However the rage kept her moving, her body could only take so much. She yearned for sleep. And she would have it. She lay against the back of the saddle, her blanket pulled up over her, and she dreamed. Not of cruel dark eyes, but of a cool day, under a canopy of golden leaves, of children living in the trees. Of a man named Jet.

* * *

"Unbelievable," Hakoda said, shaking his head as he walked away from his son. His entire life, he had always been raised to see things a certain way. Being a member of the Water Tribes, and more aptly, their leader, meant that he'd had to enforce a few less-than-wanted marriages amongst young lovers who thought a tryst could go without consequence. But usually, it was the boy trying to escape responsibility, not the girl.

Quietly, Hakoda reminded himself that his boy had netted himself a Fire Nation woman. Water and Fire were about as far apart as two things could be. As much as he'd like to follow the old ways, he had to remember that 'Water was Change'. He'd be a hypocrite to force the issue any further than he did. After all, Sokka was doing with the acrobat no more than Hakoda had already done with Jei.

As Hakoda walked, he began to hear something, off in the darkness of the temple superstructure. There were many shadows in this place; Since the nuns who lived here left, not much had been done to keep the lighting up to par. But he followed his ears, and eventually came upon Toph Beifong, the Avatar's earthbending master. And for some reason, the young girl was crying. "I don't suppose there's something I could do to help?" Hakoda asked.

"A kick in the ass wouldn't hurt," Toph muttered, sounding a bit miserable.

"What's got you like this?" Hakoda asked. "Pardon me for saying, but you've never seemed one for crying."

"I know!" the girl said, her head raising. Her eyes were red and puffy. "I'm not like this! I don't understand!"

"So I repeat, what's got you like this?" Hakoda attempted. She set her jaw and looked away.

"I can remember three lifetimes. Well, two and one fifth, anyway," Toph said. "I've trained two different Avatars. I've been the best damned earthbender in the world in two non-consecutive generations! So why the hell can't I seem to keep control of myself around _him_?"

"Who would that be?" Hakoda asked, setting aside the parts of her story he didn't have all the context for. "Haru?"

"Block head," Toph said. "Not much of an earthbender, either."

Hakoda's eyebrow rose. "Ah. Teo, the Mechanist's son," she glanced pointedly away. "I have to say, I hadn't expected that combination."

"I have my reasons," Toph said simply, and glumly. "I'm not like this. I'm a badass! I'm a champion! I'm the greatest earthbender in the world! But when I'm around him, I'm just this tiny, stupid _girl_."

"And what's wrong with being a girl?" Hakoda asked. She didn't look toward him, but since she was blind, she probably wouldn't have to. "We all have things about ourselves that we can't change. While my great grandmother might have been the most powerful waterbender since Avatar Uammanaq, I don't bemoan the fact that I can only move water with a bucket. I wasn't born a waterbender. You were born a girl. It's just one of those things that you have to live with."

"But I don't know how!" Toph said, her voice becoming angry. "I mean, I have all those dainty little behaviors of a proper lady all stored away in the back of my mind, but I don't want them, and every time I think about bringing them out so I can at least _seem_ normal, a part of me just recoils in disgust! That isn't who I am. I'm not some delicate flower. I'm Toph, damn it!"

"I don't doubt you are," Hakoda said. "But however many lifetimes you've claimed to have lived, you're young now. Everybody has hard times growing up."

"I bet you didn't."

"Quite the contrary. I could barely speak above a whisper to anybody outside my immediate family until I was almost the Avatar's age," Hakoda said. "I was a nervous child. But when I discovered what I was best at, and especially what I wasn't, I started to grow up. I gained confidence in something that I formerly loathed," she raised an eyebrow at him. He smirked. "Public speaking."

"Fei hua!"

"Oh, I'm quite serious," Hakoda said. "There's irony in that my words are now my strongest weapon. You don't want to be a society lady? Then don't be. Find whatever makes you feel like yourself, and do that."

Toph sniffed, then horked a ball of her mucosa onto the floor. "You know, you ain't half bad," she said. She leaned over and punched him hard in the arm. It actually hurt a bit. She was a lot stronger than her small body gave credit for. "Ever consider being _my_ father?"

"Don't you already have one?" Hakoda asked, casting his mind back. He was sure one had been mentioned.

"Yeah, but he's an utter tool," Toph said. "Thanks. I should get advice from cool older guys more often."

"Much obliged, Toph Beifong," Hakoda said. She just smirked and walked away, a bit more vigor in her stride. He knew she was probably going to do something stupid, but he wasn't her father, she wasn't his Tribe, and all told, these were lessons that she needed to learn on her own. He just hoped she didn't kill the poor lad. He'd seen enough of her capabilities to make anybody feel sorry for any poor bastard who pissed her off.

He smiled as he realized he should probably do the same for his son. But his daughter? Avatar or no Avatar, if he hurt her, he'd see why the Water Tribes had never been broken in a century of war, and he would not enjoy it. After all, it was his right as a father to feel great pleasure in the protection of his sweet little girl. Hopefully the boy's monkish living extended to other things besides just meditation.

Hakoda turned and walked back toward the fountain plaza. Everybody gathered there for lunch, and it would do Hakoda a world of good to talk to another adult. He looked at the Kyoshi Warrior, her paramour the firebender. If only he could find one, he thought to himself with an internal grin. He heard a chattering from a ledge nearby, and beheld a lemur, much like the Avatar's but smaller. He held out his hand, and it quickly scampered onto his shoulder, picking idly through Hakoda's hair. "Nice to meet you, too," he said with a chuckle.

* * *

On the ship with the Sea Raven flags, a group of men stood, talking about the things they were planning to do when they got back to the Fire Nation; their deployment was up, and they were rotating back to more comfortable positions. The Fire Nation made sure that no soldier spent too long on the front lines, because it tended to lead to madness. If anybody would know the results of long combat, it would be the Fire Nation. Of course, Katara didn't care. The moon was still a day away from being full, but it hung high in the sky, above the waters where she was hiding. Waiting.

"Much as I appreciate being able to stay underwater without drowning, is there some reason we're waiting?" Mai asked. She was a useful source of information, but one that needed to be drawn out. Katara just focused on the underside of the hull. There were so many ways she could do this. So many ways she wanted to. But she had to be sure.

"Weighing options," Katara said, almost as flat as Mai. Her eyes narrowed. She knew what she should do. She streamed up the water on one side of the oddly brightly colored ship and smashed it into the side of the hull. The distraction caused all of the men on deck to run over, to see what it was that they'd banged into. As they did, Katara rose Appa up out of the water, and bent a gargantuan surge of water toward the craft. It swelled up like a tsunami, smashing over the deck and almost capsizing the ship. Katara landed Appa on the deck, and Mai hopped down an instant later. One man, who had been caught against the rail, looked at her black-clothed form and gave a shout of fear, firebending a column of flames at her. Katara almost smirked. She bent her own column, a blasting tumult of brine almost as thick as she was tall, smashing through and _negating_ the attack, before dashing the soldier off the deck and into the deep. Mai, who had only gotten her knives out, raised an eyebrow at that. Katara didn't care. She pulled water to herself, and smashed it inward, compressing it. Water was a difficult element to alter; it could be frozen or evaporated, but the common belief was that it was incompressible. And bending metal was also impossible, so she took that with a heap of salt.

Katara ran to the tower, letting the explosions of water that hung from her arms blow the door open. The force knocked a sword-wielding soldier off his feet and smashed him against a bulkhead. He didn't give any indication that he was going to get up soon. She entered, moving toward the stairs. Behind her, she heard a door open, but Mai was fast. The instant it opened, she ducked low, and the spear thrust slipped over her back, spanging into the wall. She grabbed the spear, kicking the soldier in the gut, then higher into the face, causing him to fall back into the room. She closed the door and broke off the spearhead into the hinge, jamming the door tightly.

"Well?" Mai asked, her voice betraying nothing of that she was almost just murdered.

Katara gave the woman a nod, then moved up the stairwell, to the highest point on the ship. It was familiar, in its way. The last time she'd done this, it was to get her father back. Now, she was in a way getting her mother back. The door to the helm was locked. Ordinarily, she would have cut away at the metal. Water was patient, it was insidious, it was inevitable, and it always won. But today, Katara didn't feel like waiting.

"Are you ready for this?" Mai asked. Katara pulling down the strip of cloth over the lower half of her face was all the answer she got before Katara directed the compressed water toward the door, exploding it off of its hinges and causing it to smash around the room. Mai leapt in first, her knives searing through the space, and she had pinned a firebender to the wall, despite his armor, in less than a second. The other one, with the more ornate armor and higher apparent rank, began to bend flames toward Mai, but Mai was quick. She dodged around them.

"Who are you?" the man shouted in alarm.

"You don't recognize her?" Mai asked. The man gave a glance between the two women, then began to bend again. But this time, Katara didn't feel like letting him succeed. She reached out, feeling the water inside his body, and she demanded it _obey_. She didn't know whether it was because of the 'blood' part of the Blood Moon, or if she was just so much stronger than Hama that she didn't need the moon's help, but the man's arm twisted about, the fires he was preparing to unleash falling into smoke. She was bloodbending him.

The man let out a cry of exquisite pain. Even Mai's eyes went wide when she saw as Katara pulled every muscle and vein and drop of blood in the man's body toward the floor, making him pitch forward and slam against the deck plating. Mai gave a wary glance at Katara, then moved to him, pulling off his helmet.

"What's happening to me?" the man asked, his voice ragged of pain. Bloodbending was not a pleasant thing to experience. She knew that first hand. Mai leaned down, and pointed toward Katara.

"Are you telling me you don't recognize her?" Mai asked, an angry edge entering her voice. Katara didn't know the assassin had it in her to be angry. "Try thinking back to the last raid you made on the South Water Tribe."

"It was a disaster," the man said, his voice trembling. "We weren't expecting so many waterbenders. They almost killed us all."

"Not this year," Mai said. "Before. It would have been almost a decade ago."

"What?" the man asked. "But, I wasn't even..."

"Don't lie to me," Mai said. She laced her fingers through his hair and pulled upward. Katara allowed his face to rise; otherwise, Mai would have just ripped his hair out. "Look her in the eye and tell me you didn't rape and murder her mother!"

Katara felt her rage fall away, her control slip. This man had amber eyes, very bright, and his hair was almost black. His brow was bushy, his face rounded. "This isn't him," Katara said. "It can't be."

"I wasn't part of the Raiders during the last set of raids," he said. His voice was much lighter than she remembered her mother's killer being. Now that he was freed from her bloodbending, he still didn't move, but he was no longer in agony. "I only got moved here seven years ago, when the last captain, Yan Rha, was 'retired'."

"Yan Rha?" Mai asked, pushing his head back down into the deckplating. It let out a loud bang, and the current captain let out a grunt of pain. "I know that man," Mai said.

"What? How?"

"He moved to Azul six years ago," Mai said. "He was a jackass who made a lot of enemies. Ordinarily, it wouldn't matter, but he managed to piss off House Azul. They banished him from all Azul principality territories."

"And how does this help us?" Katara asked. The two firebenders looked on in alarm.

"I know where he settled. It's almost directly north of here, in the southern expanses of Sozu territory."

"Then we need to go now," Katara said. She gathered up all the water that had expanded to cover the floor, recompressing it. As she left, she gave two flicks of her wrist. One of them severed the section of the ship holding the messenger hawks, letting it fall into the sea. The birds would escape, but be useless for their purpose. The second strike carved a hole just at the water line. The ship would slowly sink. It was the most mercy they could possibly expect from her.

Mai didn't say a word as Katara called Appa, and the two of them moved north into the night.

* * *

"Are you alright?" Teo asked, wheeling toward Toph as she approached. She hung her head. "When you left, I thought..."

"Just give me a second, alright?" Toph said, waving a hand. She couldn't see his expression, which was kind of expected, considering, but he seemed calm enough. "Look, I like you. You're smart and nice and more important than that, you're awesome."

"Why thank you," Teo said. There was a pause. "How am I awesome?"

"I was born blind," Toph said. "This time, anyway. But I didn't let it control my existence, determine my path. I overcame it. I took what the universe threw at me and I used it to make me stronger. You did the exact same thing. When you lost your legs, you were what? Three, maybe four?" Teo grunted his affirmation. "And when you lost them, what did you do? Did you whine and complain that you were never going to walk again?"

"Well, I did cry for a while, but I was young and it was _really_ painful," he admitted.

"So was this," Toph said, indicating the burns on her arms. "But you didn't just move on from it, you overcame it. Instead of crawling around in the dirt, you built yourself a wheelchair. Yeah, I know the truth; it wasn't your dad who built that thing. You came up with the idea when you were six. And that wasn't enough. You put a wing-thingy on that wheelchair and made it fly you around! So despite not having legs, you were flying. Now, while I might not be too hot on the whole flying bit, the fact that you did something like that is just... incredible! That, Teo, is awesome."

"Why... thank you, I guess," Teo said, scratching the back of his neck. "I'm not sure why you felt I needed that confidence boost, but..."

"It wasn't a confidence boost, Flyboy," Toph said. "I was explaining myself. I always knew that if I was ever going to be... with... somebody, it'd have to be somebody that I could respect. And let's face it, there's no shortage of losers on this planet. But you? You're a badass. And I appreciate badass."

"I wouldn't call myself 'badass'," Teo said. "Smartass, maybe."

"Definitely that," Toph said, a laugh escaping her. "So... yeah. I like you. I think you're awesome. And I'm not really sure what to do from here."

"I think we've discovered that kissing you is right out," Teo said. She could almost _hear_ him smile.

"Only for now, Flyboy," Toph said, punching his arm.

"Hey, what was that for?" Teo asked.

"That's how I show affection," Toph explained.

"Oh. Well... thanks," Teo said.

"I know. It's not demure or lady-like," Toph said, leaning against the stone wall nearby. "I could be a proper lady for ya, but I hated that high-society crap with the fury of a hundred firebenders. So I'm just trying to figure out how to do it as... well... me."

"I'm sure you'll do just fine," Teo said.

"Gods, it wasn't this hard back when I was a man," Toph muttered.

"What?"

"I mean, all I had to do was flex my muscles and flash a grin and the ladies were falling all over me. Of course, that was Sud. Yu was an idiot. Maybe that's where it comes from..." Toph said, smiling at the memory. "Oh, gods. I just realized something. I have no idea what this is going to be like on the other side! What's it going to be like having sex as a woman?"

"Can we go back to the part where you used to be a _man_?" Teo asked.

"In a past life," Toph said. She waved her hand. "It's some sort of Avatar thing."

"Oh."

"I'm screwing this up again, aren't I?" Toph asked.

"You're weird, but..." Teo said, "I can live with weird."

"Thanks," Toph said, her heart slowly coming back into control. "So... what do we do now?"

"I'm not sure," Teo said. There was a long pause. "Wanna make out?"

"What?" Toph asked.

"Nothing," Teo answered. Toph couldn't help but laugh at that.

* * *

Yon Rha pulled his forked tool through the soil, creating tiny divots. He looked up as the sound of a thunderclap rolled through the air. It would rain soon. Anybody could tell that. Not everybody would be able to tell why. Yon Rha was a weathered man, his frame sparse and his lantern-jaw looked like it had been pulled tight. He was not an intimidating figure. Not anymore. Behind him, the door slid open, and a fairly hideous, very ancient woman stepped into the doorframe, her weight supported on a long-suffering cane.

"Yon Rha!" the woman shouted, her voice as unpleasant as her appearance. "You lazy piece of shit! I need something!"

Yon Rha turned to her, a flinch evident on his features. "What is it, mother?" he asked.

"Those stupid vegetables from your garden are too hard for my gums! I need something soft and juicy!" the old crone shouted. She didn't appear to have any other level of volume. Yon Rha waved to the other occupants of the garden.

"Maybe you'd like something else from..."

"Forget your damned garden! Get your lazy ass into town and buy me some real goddamned food!" she shrieked, then slammed the door. Yon Rha drooped a bit, staring down at the earth.

"Yes, Mother," he said. He stood, and moved toward the town. The path was long, and he moved slowly. How a man like him ever ended up as a military leader fell to two factors; nepotism and bribery. More thunder sounded in the sky, and the ozone stink of lightning was in the air. More than that, it smelled like rain.

Yon Rha moved lethargically through the market, picking out those things that his mother had tasked him to find. The wind picked up, sounding a chime which hung under rafters. Yon Rha quickly turned back. Two forms were unseen. "Hello?" he asked. He turned to the green grocer. "Did you see anything?"

The grocer shrugged. Of course he hadn't seen anything. He'd been watching Yon Rha. He was known to pilfer if he thought he could get away with it. Paranoia creeping into his stance and his face, he payed and left, walking out of the town. No kind words followed him. Even here, Yon Rha was at best tolerated. They knew what he'd done. And they did not approve.

As Yon Rha descended a stairway, cut into the side of a steep defile, he paused, turning back. "Who's there?" he shouted. No answer came to him, save for the rolling of thunder, and the quiet tap of the first droplets of rain hitting the dirt. He didn't see anybody following him. As intended. He kept walking.

"This is the one?" Mai asked. Beside him, Katara nodded. She had a look of absolute fury on her face, one which hadn't altered since she reached the shore. While she hadn't done any obvious bending, the longer the two women waited, the stronger the storm grew. Out of clear skies, against the prevailing wind, a massive thunderstorm rolled over as the day gave way to the night. Mai wasn't one to believe in coincidences. In the growing darkness, there was a flicker of movement, then both women were gone.

Yon Rha continued to walk, clutching a basket of food. Ahead, he could see a woman walking the path toward him in the distance, an umbrella holding the rain away. But it would be a while before she reached him. And his dark eyes flit about in paranoia. He stopped, dropping his basket and lashing out flames toward a thick, concealing stand of trees.

"Nobody sneaks up on me without getting burned!" Yon Rha shouted. The greenery burned even against the efforts of the rain. Beyond that, there was silence. He breathed heavily, then stepped back, gathering up his scattered vegetables into the basket. He gave one more glance toward that burning brush, then started walking. As the woman with the umbrella passed him, a pale hand caught his arm.

"We weren't hiding behind the tree," Mai said. His eyes narrowed, but she was fast. She drove her other fist into his kidney, twisting him enough so that she could quite easily sweep him off his feet. She drove him down onto his back with a stiff chop to the throat with the edge of her hand. Katara rose from where she was hiding, submerged under a small pool of water. Yon Rha stared between the two, backing away from them. "I wouldn't try firebending," Mai said, letting knives slide down between her fingers.

"I'll give you my money! I swear, I'll cooperate! Just leave me alone," he croaked, his voice not yet recovered from her blow. Katara pulled the concealing coif off her head, letting the rain beat down on her features. Mai made sure that her umbrella was folded properly; it was the only one she'd had the good sense to bring with her. It wouldn't do to be damaged.

"Do you know who I am?" Katara asked, her voice like ice.

"No," he answered, his eyes wide with fear. "I'm not sure."

"You'd better try harder," Mai said flatly, ignoring the rain which was beginning to send a chill through her. "I'm fairly sure your life depends on it."

"I don't know what you're..." Yon Rha said, but then, his expression became one of shocked disbelief. "No. Impossible."

"Not impossible," Katara said.

"You're that girl. From the South Water Tribe," he said. "The daughter of the last waterbender."

"She lied to you," Katara said, her hands tensing. "She wasn't the last waterbender."

Yon Rha glanced between the two women. "Then who was?"

"**ME!**" Katara roared, her arms sweeping out... and the world went absolutely silent. Mai looked around, the astonishment, and, let's not be coy, fear plain on her features. Mai had suspected that Katara had built this storm to her liking. Now, those suspicions were confirmed. Katara was holding every drop of rain, every molecule of water in her control. An entire storm stopped in its tracks for one woman. Mai made a note to never call her 'barbarian' ever again.

Katara reached forward, and the man seemed to be lifted from within, launching toward her before collapsing onto his knees on the ground. The water around him began to freeze into place, locking his arms at his sides, his legs folded under him. His dark eyes shot around in panic. She reached forward, laying a hand on his brow. Mai had spent many years as Azula's friend, and the princess had shown many degrees of anger. They paled beyond any comparison to what she beheld on the waterbender.

"I did a bad thing," Yon Rha said, struggling against the contact. "I know I did and you deserve revenge. Maybe you could take my mother! That would be fair!"

Katara's rage faltered a bit at that. Mai was expecting to see her kill a man in a way that only a waterbender could, but instead, she stepped back, her eyes sliding closed. "No. I will not be like you. I am not Hama," Mai raised a brow at that. It was a name she was going to have to ask about later. "I always wondered what sort of human being could do something like that, to a defenseless woman. In front of children. It turns out, a _human being_ wouldn't. There's nothing inside you. You're hollow and pathetic. Even as much as I hate you, I won't kill you. Because you've _gotten_ what you deserve," Katara said. "I hope you live a _very_ long time, Yon Rha, with the life that you've earned."

She stepped away, letting the storm fall back down around them. Yon Rha collapsed into pathetic, whimpering tears. Mai opened her umbrella and walked away, giving not one more instant's thought to the wasted wretch frozen for the moment to the ground. The waterbender moved to where Appa was laying, concealed behind a hill, contentedly munching on moist grasses. She clambered atop its head, and Mai bounded into the saddle.

"I didn't expect that," Mai said.

"I don't care what you expected."

"Good," Mai said. "But for what it's worth, I think that you did exactly the right thing."

"I didn't know you were that cruel," Katara said. She urged the beast into the sky, even as the storm, no longer empowered by the waterbender, fell as a deluge of rain. "I wonder what Zuko sees in you."

"The best things," Mai said, not rising to the bait. Of course she was angry. It stood to reason after meeting the man who tore one's family apart that there would be some lingering hostility. "And never the worst. _I_ wonder what the Avatar sees in _you_."

* * *

"By the way, Mai and Katara are back," Sokka said, trying not to upset his little task with the scavenged leg of Combustion Man. Aang glanced about, confused.

"They went somewhere?" he asked. But when he finally spotted her, he saw that she wasn't wearing her usual clothing. Her old clothes, which probably had served her since Ba Sing Se, had been dyed black, and her hair ran twisted and knotted down her back, like she hadn't bothered caring for it in a few days. Aang frowned. He always seemed to be the last one to notice things. Mai was standing beside her.

"That's an interesting... dance... you're doing," Mai commented, staring at Zuko.

"It's not a dance," Zuko said, somewhere between embarrassed and annoyed. "It's an ancient and powerful firebending form."

"And what's this form called?" Mai asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"The Dancing Dragon," Zuko admitted, looking sheepish.

"Where were you?" Aang asked.

"I brought her to find the man who raped and killed her mother," Mai said simply. Sokka's eyes went wide, but he remained silent. Aang looked at Katara, his mouth agape.

"No. Tell me you didn't..."

"I didn't kill him," Katara said. "If I had, I would have been no better than Hama. And I refuse to be anything like her. Ty Lee was right about what I needed. I needed to let my anger out, then let it go."

"You did the right thing," Aang said, relieved. "Forgiveness is the only way that a soul can start to heal."

"No," Katara said. "I'll never forgive him for what he did to me and the people I loved," Katara then turned to Zuko. "But I think I am ready to forgive _you_."

"What?" he asked. She moved closer, and gave him a brief hug. Mai raised a brow, but did nothing more.

"You're trying to be a better person. I can see it. I can accept it. Your face isn't the face of the enemy. Not anymore," Katara said. She backed away, leaning against a pillar for a moment. "I'm so tired of hatred. I just want this all to be over."

With that, Katara walked away. Aang wanted to follow her, but Zuko's poleaxed expression transfixed him for a moment. "Avatar," Mai said, dragging Aang's attention to her. "I'm glad she's not our enemy. Between her and Azula, I'd bet on her."

"What?" Zuko, Sokka, and Aang all asked as one.

"If Azula gets pissed off, she'll throw a lightning bolt at me. If Katara does, she'll throw an entire thunderstorm. That is if she doesn't just make _me_ stab myself," Mai said. She walked past Aang. "Good luck with her, Avatar. I think you're going to need it."

"You helped her with this?" she nodded, without turning back. "Thank you. And thank you for helping her make the right choice. Violence wasn't the answer," Aang said. Mai nodded again. "It never is."

"Really?" Zuko asked. He turned to Aang. "Then tell me something. What are you going to do when you face the Fire Lord?"

Aang didn't have an answer for that.

* * *

"Take your stance, Azula," Jeong Jeong said. Azula dropped low, her eyes closed. "Wider!"

"I know how wide I need to be, Firemaster," Azula said, trying to ignore that flame that licked at her soul at every hour of the day.

"Inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth," Jeong Jeong prompted. Basics. Ever since Avalanche, it was basics, basics, basics. It chafed. It was infuriating. It was unforgivable. And she felt like she was being punished.

You are doomed to failure.

A gout of blue fire came out with her breath. "No!" Jeong Jeong admonished. "You must control the flame within."

"You are going to want to be very careful in choosing how the next few sentences come out," Azula said, opening her eyes. Every cell in her body called for destruction. Violence. Fire. To burn. Jeong Jeong looked at her, and seemed to grasp her intent. The scar that the young tribesman had given him had begun to heal over, but it would likely be with him for the rest of his life. A fitting reminder that anything less than perfect was not good enough.

"If you do not wish to train today..."

"We have more important things to do than breathe and feel the sun," Azula snapped, rising out of her stance. She'd been training since Avalanche. She hadn't slept. She knew the dreams would follow her. How could she do it? What possessed her to think she'd get away with it? Did she want to die that badly? "Has there been any word from father?"

"No," Jeong Jeong said. "And I doubt we shall have it. He is... disappointed in you."

The words spurred Azula's rage to peak. She lashed out with a hand, and a blast of azure flames seared through the wall, melting it away in an instant, pouring into the hall outside. She stopped, panting, _feeling_ as a single lock of hair fell out of her style. With monumental control and effort, she ignored it, turning to face the Royal Firemaster. The violence had been an epiphany for her.

"I know where he is," she said, not doubting the revelation in flames. "I know where Zuko and the Avatar will be hiding. They could hide nowhere else in this part of the Fire Nation. Not close enough to escape in reasonable time, on _my_ airship."

"Then what are your orders, Crown Princess?" Jeong Jeong asked. That's right. She was still Crown Princess. Nobody could take that away from her. Not now. Not with Zuko no longer her brother and Ozai's faith, even however badly she'd bungled and damaged it, still in her. If she could kill her brother, Father would love her again. He was the _only one_ who could.

"The Western Air Temple," she said. Jeong Jeong nodded, and moved off to the helm. The wall was still red hot, and a new hole was cut into it. She didn't care. The fire still seared at her. She needed more violence. Bloodshed. She needed an outlet. Agni's blood, she wanted to be _calm_ again... Wait, where had that thought come from? Was Mother sneaking around in her mind again?

Nobody can ever love you.

Azula dropped to her knees, fighting to keep the tears from falling from her eyes. Father loved her. He had to. Dear Agni, please; he had to. _Nobody else could_.

* * *

_God I'm starting to feel sorry for Azula. Leave a review._


	16. An Evening on Ember Island

**Is it just me, or are these chapters getting steadily longer?**

**I decided to have a bit of fun with this episode, much like the series did. But, as part and parcel of my having an extremely cynical view of reality, that didn't last long. So enjoy your lampshades, we've got a whole truck full of them. We get to see the Gaang acting like teenagers for a change, and Zuko being positively childish. How often does that happen? Also, remember that quirk about Azuli women? About what it means when they're unarmed? Lucky Zuko.**

**And I feel I should say now: the filthy comment made during the first scenes of the play was actually a retelling of a similarly filthy story by John Sessions during an episode of the BBC panel show, QI. If you haven't heard of it, I highly recommend. It's like hilarious porn for the brain.**

* * *

"You've got your firebending back, I'm learning nice and fast, I haven't broken any of your rules, so can you pleeeeeease teach me how to throw lightning?" Aang begged. Zuko hung his head.

"You've really got a one-track mind, haven't you?" he asked.

"How could I not? I'll be all like whoooom... BWAAAM!" Aang gesticulated theatrically. "And then they'll be all 'urg argh!' and that'll be..."

"Lightning is dangerous," Zuko said.

"You think _everything's_ dangerous," Aang muttered. He ran a hand over his head. Aang's hair seemed to be growing back in. Had he just stopped shaving it after the failed invasion? Zuko couldn't say. "I appreciate that you respect the power of your element, but if you don't teach me, how am I supposed to beat your father?"

"He's not my father!" Zuko shouted. Aang recoiled a bit, and Zuko wiped a hand over his face. The tiny dragon which coiled around Zuko's neck like a living choker tensed at Zuko's outburst. "I'm sorry. It's just..."

"I understand," Aang said. "It's still painful, isn't it?"

"You've got no idea," Zuko admitted. He took a breath, trying to calm himself. "The truth is, I can't make lightning. I know the Kata, but there's something else that I keep screwing up and I don't know what it is. Every time I try, it blows up in my face," he pondered a moment, rubbing his chin. "But there is something I can teach you for when others use it. You must have noticed how much my sister likes lightning?" Aang nodded. "Well, Iroh created a way to _redirect_ that lightning."

"Oh yeah!" Aang said. "Like he did at that place in the middle of nowhere!"

"Exactly," Zuko said, not sure what Aang meant. "He says he discovered it while studying waterbenders at the North Pole years ago."

"What was he doing at the North Pole?"

"Talking to fish... unless he was being metaphorical," Zuko said. He shook his head. "The point is, there is a way to protect yourself from Ozai or Azula using lightning. It can even be turned back on them. The trick is to create a pathway of energy, starting at your fingertips," Aang watched as Zuko made the motion he'd learned with, "Up to the shoulder, then down into the stomach, before back up the other arm and out. Feel that pathway?"

"Have you ever done this before?" Aang asked, repeating the motion.

"Yes," Zuko said. On both of the people who claimed to be his family. "It was... exhilarating, but also perfectly clear that if I lost control for even an instant, the energy would have torn my body to shreds from the inside."

Zuko turned as a hand clasped on his shoulder. Sokka's father was standing next to him. "Do you think I could borrow the Avatar for a moment?" Hakoda asked. Zuko shrugged.

"What is it?" Aang asked.

"We need to talk about the situation with the children," Hakoda said. "There isn't enough food to keep all of us fed, not even for two more days. Not with us burning through it so quickly," Hakoda glanced around, as though afraid a certain someone might hear him. "I don't want to offer this unless we all agree it's the best idea but... I'm thinking of taking the airship to Kad Deid. We'll bring along the children. Toph, the Duke, Teo, the youngest."

"Toph won't like that," Aang said. "And besides, she's a hundred and sixty years old. I doubt she even qualifies."

"Is somebody going to explain that to me?" Zuko said. It sounded like some bizarre inside joke that nobody had ever gotten around to bringing him into.

"I don't want Katara to think I'm abandoning her again," Hakoda said. "I've left her behind too many times in the last few years."

"Talk to her," Aang said sagely. "She's not the little girl you left behind in the South. She's grown up to be an intelligent, powerful and resilient woman. Give her a chance. She could surprise you."

Zuko gave a grunt of approval as Hakoda walked away. "I've got to tell you, I'm impressed," Zuko said. "Ordinarily, you're a hyper little brat, but right now, you sounded downright wise."

"Thanks a lot," Aang said dubiously. Zuko turned away as Hakoda started speaking to his daughter, trying to get Aang's attention back on him. As Zuko had said, it was sometimes a bit hard to hold. It made Zuko wonder how the kid had thwarted him so often.

* * *

Aang was staring down at his reflection in the pool. He touched the hair which was growing on his scalp again. It wasn't long, but it was already concealing the Air Nomad arrow again, so only its point, striking down the center of his forehead at the bridge of his nose, was still visible. For the seventeenth time in seventeen days, he considered getting his razor and shaving it all off again. And for the seventeenth time in seventeen days, he decided not to. And he wasn't entirely sure why.

"Goooood mornin', Twinkletoes," Toph said, quickly tipping her hands into the pool and splashing water onto her face. The reflection Aang had been staring at vanished into a pattern of ripples.

"It's almost noon," Aang pointed out.

"Really?" Toph asked. "How the time flies."

Aang arched an eyebrow at her. While he wasn't the best to judge, Toph looked a bit disheveled. _Well_, Toph frequently looked a bit disheveled, but this time, it was in a very particular way. Aang resented everybody's implications that he was oblivious. He saw things. It's just that so much of what happened, happened when he wasn't around to notice it. "So, did you have fun with him last night?"

"Who told you about Teo!" Toph snapped.

"You did," Aang said, a grin on his face. Toph twitched, then turned away. Aang could tell she was blushing. "I think it's great. You should have somebody like that in your life."

"Don't play matchmaker with me, Twinkletoes," Toph said. "I did this all on my own."

"Right, not taking anything away from you," Aang said. He glanced over to where Hakoda was saying goodbye to Katara, properly this time. "It's going to be strange without them all here."

"It's safer in Kad Deid," Toph said, but her heart wasn't in it. Teo was going with them. "Hundreds of waterbenders in a city built into the side of a cliff. It's like home but without the badgermoles. They'll be fine."

"Unless the Fire Nation attacks."

"They _have_ been attacking," Toph said. "And they keep failing. That's the great thing about having them for enemies. We always know that they're going to lose."

Aang wasn't quite so sure of that. Hakoda vanished, and Katara looked a bit drained from the encounter as she walked back toward the fountain plaza. "Are you going to be alright?" Aang asked.

"I am," Katara said, a wistful sound in her voice. She looked at him, and her eyes were damp. Aang moved closer, and she quickly pulled him into an embrace. Zuko quickly looked away, trying not to intrude on Aang's private moment. It was good. Aang needed moments like this. "I'll see him again," she said, her voice strong even as she held close to him. "I know it."

"So what do we do now?" Zuko asked. All eyes turned to him. "I know it's not going to be the popular opinion, but we've been hiding in this temple for a long time. I found you in _two days_. Much as I hate to admit it, Azula's smarter than I am. She's going to find us eventually."

"That's something we'll have to deal with when it comes," Katara said, separating from Aang. "But until then, we need to prepare."

"Between firebending with Zuko and earthbending with Toph, it seems like that's all I'm doing!" Aang complained.

"Of course," Zuko said. "In the end, it all does come down to you," Aang just stared at him, a glum expression on his face. "Not that we're trying to put any pressure on you."

Aang turned, ignoring his masters and walking along that stream which ran well out of its original course, along a crack that Combustion Man had created during his assassination attempt. Then, it trickled over the edge, down into oblivion. "I know how much responsibility I have," Aang said. "It's just that sometimes... I'm not sure if I even can. I'm not ready."

"You're going to have to become ready," Zuko said. He stopped, glancing over the edge. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Katara asked. Mai was beginning to approach, a wary look on her own face. Zuko shared a glance with his dark lady, then slowly moved toward the edge.

"Avatar, move away from the ledge," Mai said slowly, her eyes focused on nothing, but her head cocked toward the abyss. What were those two hearing?

"Come on, it's not like something's just going to rise up out of the fog and..." Aang began, but he was interrupted when he felt something moving toward him. He glanced back just in time to see a red canister flying up, out of the mists, directly at him. He bounded back, smashing the shell away; the instant the blade of wind hit it, it detonated, a shockwave rattling the fountain plaza. Aang suddenly understood why Sokka never let anybody say things like that. It made it too easy for the universe to prove him wrong.

The thrum of blades carried up from the fog, and the dark hulk of that machine, which hadn't had its Fire Nation colors striken as had the one Zuko and Sokka stole, rose steadily into view. But as it did so, more canisters began to fly up and at the temple. "Aang, get everybody onto Appa!" Zuko shouted, standing still against the rising threat. Mai moved to him, but he shot her a glance. She seemed to read something in that, then nodded and moved away from Zuko and the coming storm. Explosions began to ripple through the already compromised structure. Zuko ignored any that didn't come near enough to him to cause him injury; those that did, he smashed out of the sky with a spear of golden fire.

Aang began to run toward his sky bison, but he stopped, one pagoda over. Where was Ty Lee? He was answered when he saw his airbending student land next to Zuko. "Is it her?" she shouted to Zuko. Her question was answered a moment later. Standing in the fire deck, her hands on the rails, was Azula.

* * *

Zuko looked up at his sister as she rose slightly above his level, the abyss separating them. The barrage had been curtailed for the moment. Of course it was; she'd want to gloat first. He took one step forward, looking at his sister. Really looking at her. Her eyes were darkened, probably from lack of sleep, and even from the distance he could tell they were bloodshot. Several nails on the hands clutching the rail were broken and uneven. And her gaze was not angry, or triumphant, or even the slightest bit smug. It was hungry.

"What are you doing?" Zuko's question couldn't be dumber. He knew it even as it left his mouth. But instead of a cutting remark, Azula's eyes finally seemed to lock onto him.

"Isn't it obvious?" she asked. A highly unnatural smile came to her face. It was strange how anybody could have ever considered that expression angelic when she was a girl. When she was a girl... "I'm about to celebrate becoming _an only child_!"

Ty Lee ran up to Zuko's side, but when she looked at Azula, she fell to her knees, her eyes wide, and her staff fell from her fingers. Zuko let out a shout, as he swept away the first of Azula's attacks. It hadn't been at Zuko. It was fired, fast and hard, _at Ty Lee_. It was as though the instant Azula saw the acrobat-cum-airbender, she utterly forgot what she'd come here for.

"What are you doing?" Zuko asked, daring not even to glance over his shoulder, for fear of letting something of the vicious onslaught that Azula was launching from the ship through his defenses. The other firebenders on the fire deck were loading the cannon with more explosive canisters. Of course, they were going to blow the entire temple off the cliff. "Snap out of it!"

"She can't be..." Ty Lee muttered in that stunned tone of voice. He had no idea what the airbender was seeing. "She just can't..."

"Ty Lee! Get ahold of yourself!" Zuko roared as he parted a blast of fire which would have burnt the girl so completely that it wouldn't have even left ashes. "We need you! Aang needs you!" she still seemed insensate. Zuko cast around inside his mind for something that might get through to her. "Sokka needs you!"

That finally got her attention. A hard look on her usually happy face, she grabbed her glider and bounded forward. Zuko was also happy to be able to move instead of standing his ground against a dozen or more of his countrymen. Both of the disgraced nobles had the same notion and plan, so that when Zuko cut his way through the layers of firepower levied against him, they knew what they had to do. Ty Lee began to glide, and Zuko leapt. Ty Lee then caught him with her quite frankly powerful legs, and gave him just a little bit more momentum, before he arced down onto the top of the airship.

Sokka had explored the ship he stole from top to bottom in that first day back. The bottoms of these ships were fantastically armored, because that was where all assault would come from. But the tops were just a wire mesh over the flotation, to keep birds or what minor assaults to their constitution which _could_ come from above from getting somewhere vital. Zuko rolled to a stop on the somewhat springy platform, trying to remember what that Tribesman had been ranting about. While Zuko understood the importance of technological advancement, he left it to better minds than his.

Blue fire shot around both sides of the airship below him. Azula was still obsessed with swatting Ty Lee, even despite her promise of fratricide. What had happened to her? She used to be so... in control. Zuko had his line of thought cut off when a jet of flame threatened to give him another scar to mirror the first. He quickly smashed the attack away. Jeong Jeong was descending from a device like a crow's nest, braking his fall with a blast of firebending. He had a new scar on his face, one Sokka had given him.

"I always knew it would be me who destroyed you," Jeong Jeong said evenly. "You have been an embarrassment to your family for far too long as it is."

"Good thing I'm not in that family then," Zuko said, a smirk on his face. Jeong Jeong lashed out, his firebending coming from three directions at once. This was why Jeong Jeong was the Firemaster; only Ozai had more skill. Zuko's golden flames would hold, though. Between his capacity with his quickly summoned fire-shields and his ability to keep pressing through even the most weathering assaults, he soon found an opening in that barrage that Jeong Jeong threw, and began to press his own attack.

"What happened to your fire, Zuko?" Jeong Jeong asked. His accent, a thick Duan curl, made it hard to tell if he was being taunting or merely darkly curious. "You used to be so much more powerful."

Zuko pulled two blasts coming at him into a single one, then flared out his hands, letting golden fire burst the attack away from him. "Power isn't everything, Jeong Jeong."

Jeong Jeong took a step back, twisting to one side. It was all the warning that Zuko got, or needed. He twisted, letting a flash of golden flame from his heel smash upward behind him, deflecting what would have been a lethal attack into the sky. Blue fire seared. Azula had finally gotten her priorities straight. Zuko leapt to one side of the airship, his fists leveled each at Jeong Jeong and his sister. He could feel the tiny dragon curling a little tighter around his neck, but it only glanced around curiously at the assault.

"Why haven't you killed him yet?" Azula demanded. He glanced at her. She didn't look right. Her stance was sloppy, which was about as off as she could possibly get.

"I was attempting to. If you had been more astute," Jeong Jeong began, but was cut off when Ty Lee swept close, and landed next to him, jabbing him hard, twice in the arm with her glider staff. The arm fell limp and useless, but he stopped at once and began to firebend with his remaining limbs, leaving the lessons for another day. With Jeong Jeong distracted, Zuko focused on his sister. She glanced between Zuko and Ty Lee, as though unable to make a decision. When she did, it wasn't to attack Zuko.

Zuko capitalized, searing a blast of fire to break her advance and throw off her aim. She was obsessed with killing Ty Lee for some reason he couldn't understand. And that made her an easier target. Or so he thought. The attack seemed to snap his sister back to reality, and she turned her full attention to Zuko. And Zuko was very glad that he'd learned True Firebending, because even when he was capable of creating the blue flame, she was still levels higher than him in raw power. Knowing that, firebend for firebend, he couldn't match her, he decided to emulate her.

Zuko was many things. A good firebender was one of them. But when it came to a total fighter, it was doubtful there was any better in the world. Zuko moved very close to his sister, as she had when she met him on Bakemano Island. Every flick of her hands was deflected away with his own, no fire needed. Her every attack went wild, searing into nothing, and with every deflection, she became angrier. Finally, she got sick of playing games, and let out a billow of flames from her mouth, forcing Zuko a step back. Then, she leashed forward again, with a firebending Kata the likes of which Zuko had never seen before. Unwilling to face it naked, he blasted a wave of percussion at her. The two attacks hit each other, and if the force wasn't amplified because of it, then Zuko was a waterbender.

Zuko and Azula went rocketing off the top of the airship in opposite directions, before plummeting down through the fog toward the bottom of the cliffs. Zuko heard something above, and even as he fell, he could see something moving down at him with startling speed. Ty Lee pulled out of her dive, dragging him to a more level trajectory, his chest caught between her legs. She seemed to have a lot of practice with this technique. From below, out of the fog, he saw Appa rising up, and she dropped him into the saddle before snapping her glider shut and landing beside him. Mai quickly checked him over, before giving him a glance which promised words later if he'd gotten himself damaged. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that she'd had the presence of mind to bring along that documentation. Much was riding on it. Zuko quickly looked over the rail. Azula was still falling through the void.

"She's not going to make it," he said. For some reason, that hurt a lot more than he thought it would. But then, she seemed to gather herself, and blue flames erupted from her hands and feet. She rocketed to the side of the canyon, and slammed herself hard into the rocks, digging into them and staring at the sky bison as it flew away. Blue fire leaked out with every breath she took. "Of course she made it," he corrected.

"So where do we go now?" Aang asked from the bison's head.

Zuko shared a look with Mai. Her lip curled into a tiny smirk and her brow rose. She was obviously having the exact same idea he was. "I can think of one place," Zuko said. "One place they'd never look. Mostly because they'd never think we were crazy enough to hide there."

* * *

Aan Jee felt the bag being pulled off of her head, and she blinked a few times trying to get used to the light flooding into her eyes. It wasn't the first time that somebody had put her out and kidnapped her. It probably wouldn't be the last, considering the way she lived. But she already started casting around, looking for something she could use to her advantage. Unlike most of the sisters Baihu, Aan Jee was seldom helpless.

"I must apologize profusely for the method by which I brought you here," a voice came from somewhere behind her. It was a man, middle aged by the sound of it, and Sozu by the accent, or rather, lack of one. "You were in jeopardy in your old hiding place; the surest way to have people look for you is to act like somebody's after you."

"I'm well aware," Aan Jee muttered. "Who are you?"

"My name is... not important," the man said, stepping before her, setting a candle down on the table beside him. His head was shaven and his greyed beard was short.

"You don't need to be so coy, Jee," another spoke. This one had the distinct and obvious tones of a native of Ba Sing Se. "She's not going to go against us."

"You seem awfully sure of yourself," Aan Jee said. Jee, the man in front of her, shrugged.

"You know where your best interest lies. You aren't as insular as your little sister nor as altruistic as the acrobat. You see things in the lens of how they affect you," Jee shrugged. "Not that there's anything wrong with that. Had you lacked that outlook, well, I know you understand what would have happened."

A man walked around Aan Jee, and opened his hand. She felt the restraints holding her hands together in front of her crumble away. This man was very non-descript, save for the obvious fact that he had a gaping hole where one eye should be. "I offer my sincerest condolences for what happened to the House Baihu," the earthbender said.

"I don't want to talk about it," Aan Jee said pointedly. The earthbender shrugged and took a step back, content in silence. It was a painful memory, still fresh and raw. She looked up. "What happened to the others? Ty Lee and Zhu Di?"

"I'm fine," Zhu Di said nearby. Much the same as few could tell the sisters apart by sight, even fewer could tell them apart by ear. Aan Jee wagered that only a certain blind, somewhat crazy earthbending girl would have the knack. Aan Jee moved to her little sister. Despite being all of one brood, Zhu Di had been the smallest, and remained the smallest. She was two fingers shorter than any of the sisters Baihu, and her sedentary lifestyle made her quite a bit more pudgy. She also was the only one needing spectacles. "I'm surprised that you haven't gotten your hands cut off by now, though."

"I came very close," Aan Jee admitted. It did her heart good to see one of her sisters was still here. "Have you heard from Ty Lee?"

"Not since just after Ba Sing Se fell," her little sister said. The one-eyed man seemed to sigh at the mention. Aan Jee would have to ask her sister about that at some point. She never did much care about keeping up with world politics. Aan Jee turned to Jee.

"What have you brought us here for?"

"_I_ brought you here," a new voice said, this one of Master Piandao. Aan Jee nodded respectfully to the older gentleman; he was one of the very few she felt any compulsion to. "I owe many favors, some of them to your mother. When she asked me many years ago to look to your safety, I took the pledge I made very seriously. Zhu Di will be joining me when I leave for the East Continent this afternoon. I would offer that you come as well, but Jee has other plans."

Aan Jee turned suspiciously to the gentlemen beside the low table. "I'm surprised you haven't asked where we are," Jee said, a smirk on his face. She frowned at him. "We're in Sozin City," he held out a forestalling hand. "I know. The last place in the world you would choose to come. That is exactly why you are here. Who would be crazy enough to think to look for you here?"

"That's because I'd have to be crazy to come here. I'm, like, the most wanted woman in the Fire Nation right now," Aan Jee said.

"Indeed. But how would you like a chance to do something about that?" Jee asked. Aan Jee's brow rose. "You are possessed of unique and useful skills. I am a man who, it turns out, is very good at making people believe things. The Dark Prince is already going to find a much warmer reception here than he ever would have thought possible. But we can take it so much further."

"Don't keep selling your point until you know if she's willing to buy or not," Piandao said.

"What? Right," Jee shook his head. The one-eyed man rolled that eye and moved to the door.

"I have some... contemporaries to speak with," he said. "And a _visit_ to plan."

"Good luck, Han," Piandao said, with a respectful nod. "We're all going to need it."

"For what?" Aan Jee asked. Jee started to grin, rather like a tiger-wolf.

"How would you like to help bring down the Fire Lord?" he asked. Aan Jee stared, a bit stunned. But as that cold anger moved through her veins with her blood, she already knew the answer she was going to give even before she spoke it. Her brown eyes, always so soft and disarming, turned to unforgiving rock.

"Just tell me how."

* * *

"This place is nice," Toph said, lounging on a sofa. Aang had to agree. The beach-house on Lesser Ember was a vast improvement over their last stay on this island. And this time, there wasn't a firebending assassin out to kill them. Unless one counted Azula. Ty Lee's airbending lesson had been put on hiatus when she and Sokka declared they were going into town, much to Aang's annoyance. He was beginning to see why so many of his airbending masters didn't even _need_ to shave their heads; teaching drove them bald naturally.

"This place is crazy," Katara said. "Don't you think it's a bit bizarre that we're hiding from the Fire Lord inside his own house?"

Zuko shook his head. "Nobody's been into this building since we were an actual family," he said. "It seems like it was so long ago..."

"Yeah, and then you burned a lot of it," Mai pointed out mildly. Zuko looked a bit contrite. Aang frowned.

"Why did you burn your own house?"

"I was a lot angrier back then," Zuko said.

"That was five weeks ago," Mai responded.

"It's been a hell a month," Zuko shrugged. Mai rolled her eyes and walked away. Zuko was smiling after her. Aang didn't have a clue what just went on between the two of them. It was like the two nobles were talking an entirely different language every time they were near each other. It was the diametric opposite of how Sokka acted around Ty Lee, but then again, the airbender was always a very open person.

Of course, since the failed invasion at the Eclipse, things weren't exactly simple between he and Katara. Sure, they were closer than ever, but considering how... close... they'd gotten the night before the force arrived, that was to be expected. But afterwards, she never even mentioned it, as though that brief but glorious morning never happened. At first Aang thought it was so that there'd be no chance to enrage her father – and Sokka said that Hakoda of the South Water Tribe was not a man one would do well to enrage – but even now she remained mum. Even though they were still fighting and living and laughing side by side, it was like some gulf opened between them.

Sooner or later, Aang was going to have to do as Toph frequently recommended; man up, and talk to her. But for some reason he couldn't understand, much like his decision to not shave his head, he couldn't talk to her. Ugh. If he'd known love would be this unpleasant, he would have joined the ascetics and lived in a cave somewhere. No. He didn't mean that. It was nice to think about, though.

"Guys, you're not going to believe this!" Sokka's voice came from the doorway which hung perpetually open. All eyes turned to him, except for Toph's for obvious reasons. "We're in a play!"

"Could you say that again?" Zuko asked. "I'm not sure I heard you right."

Sokka reached into his green and gold bag and pulled out a magnificently colored poster, displaying figures obviously intended to represent Aang, Katara and Sokka, but doing so very badly. "The Last Airbender is the newest production from the acclaimed producer Puon Tim, who scoured the globe hunting for sources of information, from the Capitol of the North, to the heart of Ba Sing Se, to the cosmopolitan vistas of Grand Ember. His sources include singing nomads, pirates..."

"Singing nomads?" Aang asked. "When had _that_ happened?"

"I thought that was just a fever dream," Katara muttered, bewildered.

"...war prisoners, and a surprisingly knowledgeable merchant of cabbage," Sokka continued, a grin on his face. Zuko seemed to be bracing himself for something, and even Mai looked on with a reserved look. "Brought to you by the Ember Island Players."

"Agni burn them!" Zuko shouted, his annoyance flashing over. "Those people are _terrible_! My mother used to take me to see Love Amongst the Dragons, and every year, they just butchered it!"

Mai raised an eyebrow, ignoring her boyfriend's outburst. "Do you really think it's wise to see a play about yourselves?" she asked flatly, but even Aang could tell she found the situation at least a little amusing.

"Why not?" Ty Lee asked from where she seemed to be bouncing for joy next to Sokka, despite the fact she was standing still. "I wanna see the beautiful woman they get to play me!"

"See?" Sokka asked, rolling up the poster. "This is exactly the kind of time-wasting nonsense we've been missing out on!"

"These people are _really_ the ones who kept beating us on the East Continent?" Mai asked Zuko.

"Apparently."

"I'm almost ashamed of myself," she said with a smirk. She sighed. "Fine. We'll go an watch this little play."

"Thanks for your permission, _Mom_," Toph said sarcastically. She pointed at Aang. "You should probably go get your headband and your woman. I'm sure she's going to want to get a load of this."

"It's going to be a load of something," Zuko muttered, looking positively childish in his moping. Aang, though, looked at Ty Lee. It was strange. The play called him the last airbender, and here was another one. If only he could keep her in one place long enough to teach her.

"I've got to say, a little distraction would be nice," Aang admitted. "But until then, Ty Lee, you're not going to just skip out of your lessons. Come along."

"But Sokka and I were going to..."

Aang clapped a hand over his forehead. How did Toph always do it? Oh, right. "Gods-damn-it, woman! I am your sifu here and that means you will treat me with respect! Now get ready to train!" Aang shouted. Everybody stared at him like he'd grown another head. He blushed, shrinking in on himself and scratching his hair. "I mean... if you don't mind..."

"Just humor him," Mai said. "It'll make the time pass more quickly."

Aang was never going to get used to this whole 'teacher' thing.

* * *

"Man, talk about your great seats," Aang commented, leaning down over the balcony to the audience below. "You'll be able to see everything!"

"Ahem?" Toph muttered at the far end of the bench. "Are we forgetting something? Like how even _my_ feet can't see through this many people and this much wood?"

"Don't worry," Katara said. "I'll tell your feet what's happening."

"Shush," Sokka said, as Ty Lee cuddled up next to him. "It's starting!"

The lights went down, and the curtain raised. Sokka had to admit, this place was fairly spiffy. Aang, Katara, Zuko and Mai sat in the front row, while Sokka and Ty Lee sprawled out in the back. Toph seemed content to sit on the floor, mostly because she wouldn't have been able to see anything anyway. For some reason, Toph had a watermelon.

"Oh, Soka," Azula's voice came from the stage. Everybody in the balcony tensed at once, except for Mai, who shook her head with annoyance. A boat, pushed by black-garbed stage-hands came out, and a woman portraying Katara was gesticulating dramatically. "Forever do we search these icy seas, and we never find anything that gives us... _hope_!" she said, before bawling dramatically.

"Is it just me, or does it sound like Crazy Bitch is on stage right now?" Toph asked. Ty Lee shot Toph a glare, quite pointlessly.

"I know her," Mai said. "Decent actress. Downright _frightening_ resemblance to Azula, yeah, but do you really think the Crown Princess would _EVER_ do something like this?"

"Point taken," Sokka admitted. He watched the scene unfold, thinking back to that afternoon, right at the onset of winter three years ago. It seemed like an eternity. Those were the days when Katara couldn't waterbend without him getting wet, Hakoda was a specter, vanished into the greater world, and Sokka had never discovered the lovely taste of Fireflakes. Oh, and the world wasn't in terrible jeopardy as far as anybody knew. Those were the days. But something about this was just striking Sokka as off.

"Look! Inside that iceberg, perhaps frozen for a hundred years!" Actress Katara declared. "Waterbend Strike!"

The actress did a chopping motion, one even Sokka knew wouldn't be used in any waterbending form. The prop iceberg split open and... a woman jumped out. A lithe, shaven-headed woman with makeup emulating tattooes, in Air Nomad robes. Aang's eyes looked like they were going to bug out past his headband. "I'M A WOMAN?" Aang shouted.

"Shut up! You're going to get us caught!" Sokka said, giving Aang a shove. Ty Lee shook her head, glancing up at him.

"This is an Embiar theatre," Ty Lee said. "If you _don't_ shout out random things in moments of silence, _then_ people start getting suspicious."

"What do you mean?" Katara asked. There was a moment of silence.

"Oh, you hideous beast," somebody in the crowd below shouted. "You've just cum all over my umbrella!"

"Point taken," Katara said, reddening. Even Zuko seemed to chuckle at that.

"I'm the Avatar, silly!" Actress Aang declared. She couldn't be less of a man if she tried. "I'm here to spread joy and balance!"

"Oh, my heart is so full of hope that I'm starting to tearbend!" Actress Katara said, before bawling again. Actual Katara seemed to darken every time her counterpart said... well... anything. Sokka thought it was amusing as hell.

"I'm not a woman!" Aang protested. Toph started to chuckle.

"I think they've nailed you, Twinkletoes," she countered.

The introduction of Zuko was entertaining. Not for what was happening on stage, but the way Zuko was reacting in his seat. "I don't have time for tea and cake, you fat idiot of an uncle! I must find the Avatar and regain my HONOR!" Actor Zuko emoted, making real Zuko positively squirm. Actor Zuko turned back to the front of his prop-ship and put a spyglass to his burnt eye... which for some reason was on the right. "You _sicken_ me!"

"I don't know if I can watch this," Zuko said, his voice small. Mai just gave his hand a squeeze, and the scene changed. Sokka watched as the scenes went through their trip to the South Air Temple, and Aang's horrific discovery of Gyatso's death. Sokka, though, realized that Gyatso must have been a hell of a fighter; he was one airbender, and when Sokka found him, he was surrounded by dozens of dead firebenders, and those firebenders would have been riding high on Sozin's Comet at the time. Ever since he came to that realization, oh, about three years ago, he made sure never to truly piss Aang off.

Sokka began to notice an odd trend. "Wait a second? Who the hell is _Soka_?" he asked. "And why am I not saying anything? I've only had what? Ten lines? Where's the funny?"

"Sitting right next to me?" Ty Lee offered. Sokka leapt to his feet.

"YOU'RE NOT EVEN GETTING THE NAME RIGHT!" Sokka shouted. He leaned on the railing. "Like the poem says: The name is _Sokka_ / It's pronounced with an '_okka_'," he turned to a neighboring balcony, full of teenaged Embiar girls, with a flourish, "ladies, I rock ya."

The girls gave a titter at that, which made Zuko roll his eyes hard, before Sokka sat back down. "I think you're funny," Ty Lee said.

"Don't feel bad," Zuko said, pointing over at Aang. "They keep calling him 'Ong'."

"Why did you steal that waterbending scroll, Katara?" Actor Sokka asked, this being his eleventh line in the entire play thus far.

"Because it gave me so much ho-o-o-ope!" she bawled, clutching the oversized prop.

"Aang, aren't those?"

"Yeah, they do look it."

Zuko leapt to his feet, his eyes wide. "What the hell are those pirates doing here?"

"Pirates?" Mai asked.

"Long story," everybody who had been there at the time said at once.

"I can't wait to see myself!" Ty Lee said. "I'm coming up soon!"

"How do you figure?" Zuko asked.

"The invasion of Chin!" she said. She seemed to squirm in the spot in anticipation, but instead, the scene shot right past that, to them flying over the Great Divide, and making the same choice the real Team Avatar had: to keep on flying. "But... But I was there!"

"It's not a very good play," Zuko said. Mai shrugged.

Scenes began to pass again, and Sokka had to marvel at the horrificness of it all. He was fairly sure he couldn't have come up with something like this if he'd tried to. He watched as Actor Jet pulled Actress Katara close. "Oh, you're so bad," she said in a salacious tone. "I wonder just how bad you are?"

"Well, that explains why you went to what's-his-name so fast," Toph said, cutting into that watermelon that she'd gotten ahold of at some point Sokka wasn't paying attention. "If I'd have known you were bumping uglies with the rebel..."

"I didn't bump..." Katara snapped, before falling back, red in the face. Aang shot a look back at Sokka, but all Sokka could do was shrug. The scenes moved forward again, past meeting the Mechanist and Teo at the North Air Temple. The panoply of terrible acting and decent effects seemed complete, until the North Pole. Sokka was leaning against his armrest, waiting for the intermission to do something more entertaining. Like go to the bathroom.

"You look like one of us, but your voice is so strange to me," the actress said below. Sokka shot upright, and leaned out over the ledge. Aang and Katara were doing likewise. Unlike everything that came before it, this was... The actress portraying Yue was so close to her, in appearance and voice and manner, that it was almost like seeing the Princess of the North alive again. Sokka felt a sob ratchet at his chest, and he had to turn away. Even after years, it still hurt to think about her. Ty Lee gave him a hug before they both sat back down again.

"Wow. They actually managed to get a decent actor for once," Mai commented. "I give her a month."

When Yue died again, Sokka just couldn't watch. Then, laughing and full of glee like an enthusiastic child, Actress Aang... or Ong, in this case, donning a giant blue fish costume for some reason, began smashing apart tiny Fire Nation ships which were pulled across the stage. "The Avatar has returned to save the day! Horray!" she declared, before tripping over a line and landing flat on her back, her disgrace only saved by a timely curtain drop. Aang looked a little sick at that.

"That was horrible," Aang said.

"At least it's intermission time," Toph said. She suddenly grinned. "I guess I'm coming up next, eh?"

"I can't believe they completely missed me!" Ty Lee seemed annoyed.

"I can't believe they think I acted that way with Iroh," Zuko said quietly.

* * *

"That had to have been the most uncomfortable thing I've ever sat through," Aang said.

"Really? So you're a woman," Katara said, leaning against the stairwell up into the booth. "At least you don't go around making overemotional speeches about hope every few minutes and just make things worse all the time."

"Well, your speeches do sometimes get..." Ty Lee began, but Katara shot her a death glare. "Nothing. I'm sorry. Please don't hurt me."

Katara's look softened, and she gave the airbender's shoulder a squeeze. Toph, though, seemed quite pleased with herself. She'd fashioned the watermelon into what looked like a grim-faced helmet, and was contentedly eating the bits she'd removed.

"All I know is that somebody did their research, and everything up on that stage has passed muster so far," Toph said. She perked her head. "Come on. It's starting again."

Zuko was about to get up when a child, wearing an outfit similar to the one Actor Zuko had, ran by. He stopped, pointing up at Zuko's face. "Nice costume!" the kid said. "But you've got the scar on the wrong side."

"It's not on the wrong side!" Zuko shouted, but then looked ashamed. The kid didn't seem any worse for it, but Zuko still wiped his hand over his face. "I am bad at being good."

"I've seen worse," Mai said pragmatically. When they all finally went back inside, and Aang took his place beside Katara, the scene was already in full swing.

"I've flown all over the Earth Kingdom, but I can't find an earthbending master!" Actress Ong said. Beside them, a rock began to tremble.

"Oh, here it comes! Let's see some TOPH!" Toph shouted. The rock was lifted aside, and... a massive man wearing something like Toph's soldier outfit, which she'd only ever worn once, during the Day of Black Sun, came out of the hole. His hair was draped in front of his face.

"Who is...?" Aang asked.

"You won't find an earthbender in the sky," the actor said. "You need to look underground! My name is Toph. It sounds like Tough, because that's what I am!"

Toph's expression became baffled. "Wait a minute. I sound like a man. A big, burly man."

"Well, you did say that somebody did their research," Katara said sarcastically. Toph broke out into a wide grin.

"That is AWESOME!" she declared. "Are you kidding me? I wouldn't have cast that any other way!"

Aang couldn't help but laugh at that. The scenes played forward, all of Aang's successes, all of his defeats. And the woman they had playing Azula sounded almost as crazy as the person she was portraying which was... something. Every part where they showed actor Zuko and his actor uncle... strike that, actor Zuko and actor Iroh, Zuko turned away in shame. Even their encounter at the place where three roads meet seemed painful.

"You have me surrounded, whatever shall I do?" This bizarre, bombastic Azula asked. She suddenly pointed. "What's that, over there? Is it your honor?"

"WHERE?" Actor Zuko demanded, turning away. Real Zuko slapped his forehead at the sight. The wilderness became Burning Rock, and for some reason Combustion Man was a guy in old, metal armor who threw bombs at the gang. Ba Sing Se, both bringing down the drill and somehow they even managed to have information about what happened under Lake Loagai. Actor Jet, now clearly deranged, attacked Actress Ong, until a rock fell out of nowhere and crushed him.

"Wait... is he dead?" Zuko asked.

"It was left very unclear," Sokka admitted behind him. Toph, though, looked down sadly.

"I know that you despise me for everything that I did to you, and I don't care," Actor Zuko said, bare chested in a faux cave of crystals. Actress Katara moved close to him. Uncomfortably close.

"I don't despise you. You don't know what I feel in my waterbender heart!" she said, pulling him close.

"But what about the Avatar?" Actor Zuko asked. Real Zuko was weathering a glare from Mai.

"Him? Please. He's like a little brother to me. Besides," she began to run her fingers over Actor Zuko's extremely long hair. "Who would ever find out about this?"

Zuko and Katara began to make out on stage, causing real Katara and real Zuko to share a disgusted look, and try to inch away from each other. Mai _did_ _not_ look impressed. "I didn't..." Zuko said.

"I know," Mai said flatly.

"Well, my brother, the Dark Prince," Actress Azula expounded. She didn't ever just _say_ anything. "The time has come. It is the crossroads of your destiny. Will you chose your people, your nation? Or will you die alone and unmourned with your idiot uncle?"

Zuko looked up at the stage, his eyes holding a shell-shocked look. Actor Zuko walked up to Actor Iroh and shoved him over. "I hate you! You smell bad and you're a traitor and I hope I never have to see you again!" Actor Zuko shouted. Real Zuko looked positively ill.

"I have to go," Zuko said, and he left the booth. Mai sighed, then got up and followed him. On stage, Actresses Ong and Azula were fighting it out, and Actress Ong finally stopped, staring at the audience.

"It looks like she's a tough customer! Avatar State, yip yip!" she said, and she began to rise up on very obvious wires.

"Not if my _lightning_ has anything to do about it!" Actress Azula declared, then threw silver ribbons at Actress Ong, who convulsed when they touched her, and fell back behind the foreground scenery. "The Avatar is no more!" and the crowd began to cheer. Aang stared, wide eyed at the people.

"You made me a woman!" Aang shouted, unable to control himself anymore.

"You made me boring!" Sokka added.

"You made me fat!" Ty Lee joined in.

"You made me awesome," Toph smiled, her watermelon tucked under an arm. "What? They did. Fine. I'm leaving."

* * *

Zuko leaned back, astounded that he hadn't filled the toilet with vomit. He certainly felt like he was about to throw up. He didn't know how long he'd been in there when he felt somebody kick his foot. Zuko looked back, a waft of golden flame coming out of his nostrils. Toph was standing behind him, her arms crossed in front of her chest, a smirk on her face. Her foot was on a melon.

"You're not supposed to be in here," Zuko said. "Men only."

"I figure I've been a man for a hundred fifty years. That gives me visiting rights," Toph said.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Zuko asked, turning to sit, his back to the loo.

"I used to be two badass, earthbending men," Toph said. "Past lives, its some Avatar thing, I don't think too much about how. It's just something that I got. So. What's got you all in a snit?"

"You don't get it, do you?" Zuko asked. "You're some gigantic bruiser who can smack your enemies around ten at a time, but for me... It's like having every mistake I've made over the last three, no, six years, thrown back in my face, all at once!" Zuko pulled his knees up to his chest and rest his bearded chin upon them. He didn't feel very manly at the moment. There was no point in kidding himself. "Iroh. He was my father and he taught me so much. And how did I repay him? Impatience, irreverence, insults, and betrayal. And I don't know if I'll ever be able to ask his forgiveness."

"I don't think you'll have to," Toph said, her tones softer than usual.

"What do you mean?" Zuko asked.

"I know Iroh. Longer than you did, oddly enough," Toph shrugged. "Iroh and Yu go way back. But this time, when he saved my life out in that forest, the only thing he ever really wanted to talk about was you."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It was kind of annoying," Toph said. Zuko slapped his forehead. "But it was also really sweet. I've never had a father look out for me before the way he was looking out for you."

"Wait, you knew?"

"That Iroh was your father? How the hell was I supposed to jump to that conclusion from three days and some tea?" Toph asked. She gave Zuko a kick in the shin for good measure. "I'm observant, not omniscient. All Iroh ever wanted was for you to find your own path, and the fact that I'm here kicking you and you're not trying to roast me alive like your sister is proof positive that you have. I know he'd be proud as hell."

Zuko found himself smiling. "You've got a way with words, Toph Beifong," Zuko said. He stood, and bowed to her. She punched him in the gut. "Woohf. What was that for?"

"Don't bow to me 'till I earn it," Toph said. Zuko raised his remaining eyebrow, but the door was already swinging open. The boy in the Zuko costume walked in, and gave a yelp of alarm.

"You're a girl! You can't be in here!" he said.

"Girl? I'm not a girl!" Toph said. She kicked up her melon and slammed it into place over her head. It was carved to look like a scowling Ozai. "**I AM MELONLORD! MUAHAHAHAH!**" The kid ran away screaming. Toph's laughter went from maniac to side-splitting. "I've always wanted to do that."

* * *

"I'm amazed you got us past all the security," Sokka said, looking around at the actors running around back stage. Ty Lee was grinning. Mai rolled her eyes.

"That's not security," Mai said evenly. "Besides, if I wanted to, I could sneak somebody into Azula's tub while she was taking a bath and she wouldn't know until I wanted to. In fact, I'm pretty sure I have before."

"Really, when?" Sokka asked. Mai's eyebrow rose slightly. He then remembered what Ty Lee had told him about her... previous relationships. "You know what, never mind."

"I thought not," Mai said. Sokka began to walk through the workings, and was thoroughly ignored by the actors portraying Toph, Ong – and how could anybody get that wrong, he wondered – and Zuko. But when he turned and saw a pair of golden eyes staring at him from a face which looked exactly like Azula's his hands instantly went for his sword and boomerang, which was regrettable, because he had neither. The woman, half in make up, dropped into a firebending stance for a moment, before she shook her head.

"I'm sorry, you just looked like..." Sokka stammered, rubbing the back of his neck with a contrite smile. The actress portraying his sister rolled her eyes, and with a voice sounding just like the Crown Princess muttered.

"Great, another one. Yes. I look like the Princess. No, I won't come to your son's birthday party. Please, leave me alone," she said in that same singsong voice. Sokka grinned unsteadily, nodded, and quickly walked away. Uncanny!

"This is actually quite amusing," Mai said, but she didn't sound it. Ty Lee frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"This play," Mai said. "It's a clever satire. Why else would they have a firebender play a waterbender?"

"I don't follow," Sokka admitted. A man came walking by, rolling a white lotus Pai Sho tile over his knuckles as he read something. He glanced up for a moment. It looked like the smiling man at the bottom of the poster. Puon Tim?

"Hi, um, I was just watching your show, and I think you're doing disservice to your 'Soka' character," Sokka said. Puon waved dismissively.

"Not now, Sokka," Puon Tim said. "I don't feel like being killed by the Fire Lord or strung up by an angry mob today. If you want, talk to me after you and the Avatar depose Ozai or something."

Sokka stared after the man as he walked away. He pointed, his mouth agape, at the playwrite's retreating back. "Did... did he just..."

"Know who you were and didn't seem to care?" Ty Lee finished for him. She also seemed nervous as a lemur in a room full of mouse-traps.

"Interesting," Mai said. And this time, it seemed like she meant it.

* * *

Aang stared at the moon, his jaw set and his body shuddering. He was angry. Beyond angry. He almost gave a start when he felt a soft hand touch his shoulder. He looked over, and Katara was staring at him. "Are you alright?" she asked gently.

"I hate this play," Aang said. "And I hate that these people love it."

"Aang, you're overreacting. This is just..."

Aang turned to her. "Overreacting? If I hadn't locked my Chakra, I'd be in the Avatar State _right now_!"

"I don't like seeing you like this," Katara said. Aang hung his head, and tore his headband off. "It kills me to see you so angry, so hurt."

"I just don't understand why nothing turned out right!" Aang said, hurling the headband to the floorboards. "It's almost like that play was right!"

"What do you mean?" Katara asked dubiously.

"What you said to Zuko in that cave!" Aang said, then reconsidered when he realized that it sounded moronic. "I mean actor you to actor him!"

"Nothing like that happened," Katara said.

"And then, before the invasion..." Aang said, his heart pounding against his ribs. "I just thought we were going to be together."

"We are," Katara said. "It's just that... I didn't want to hurt you more than you already were hurt."

"What could you possibly say that would hurt me? That I wasn't any good? I'm a monk! I have an excuse!" Aang said. Sure, he was losing points in manliness, but right now, he was too upset to care.

"That isn't it. I just needed... I don't know what I needed," she admitted. She looked up, and her brilliant blue eyes shone in the darkness. "But I know I don't want to lose you."

"If I said I loved you, what would you do?" Aang asked earnestly. Her answer was very definitive, a slow, but tender kiss, brief but long enough. He could feel her warmth radiating against him. He didn't want to let go. But he knew he would have to.

"Just give me a bit of time," she said. "There are some things I need to understand. But that doesn't mean I don't want you with me."

Aang felt a knot loosening. "We're... good?"

She smiled. "We should go back inside. We might as well watch the end of this theatrical abortion."

Aang followed her back inside, where Sokka and Ty Lee had taken their places in the front row. Aang was quite content being relegated to the back. There was very little of this travesty that he found compelling. "So what did we miss?" Aang asked.

Without looking back, Sokka began to tick plot points off his fingers "Well, you woke up, then Combustion Man came back and tried to kill us a few times, and I think he's dead now, then we invaded the capitol, and Zuko joined us there, for some reason, then I busted Dad out of prison," Sokka shook his head. "I guess that means the play's over. They've pretty much caught up to everything they knew we did."

"If it's over, why hasn't the curtain fallen?" Katara asked. Sokka looked a bit baffled.

"It has to be," Sokka said. "Unless... _this is the future_!"

"I seriously need to get ahold of whatever Loverboy is drinking," Toph said, leaning against her carved-out watermelon.

"Behold!" Actor Ozai shouted from the stage. "Sozin's Comet has arrived, and we are now... UNSTOPPABLE!"

"But Father! The Avatar and my treacherous brother are here to stop you!" Actress Azula declared. "I will deal with the Dark Prince, Father!" Ozai vanished into a puff of smoke, and the actor Zuko ran onto the stage. "I'm so sorry it had to end this way, _Brother_!" Azula said.

"No, you're not," Actor and real Zuko said at the same time. Weird. The two stage siblings began to launch into a choreographed fight, using colored streamers in lieu of firebending. But eventually, the two stopped fighting for a brief moment, and a smirk appeared on the actress' face.

"I see your treacherous uncle has come to die beside you!" Azula stated. Actor Zuko turned, but nobody was behind him. Azula hurled out her silver streamer, her lightning bolt, and it struck Zuko in the back.

"Honoooooooooor!" Zuko shouted as he died. Real Zuko's forehead was flat against the rail, and when people below began to cheer, his head was shaking. The stage was quickly cleared, and Ong faced Ozai.

"So you have mastered all four elements?" Ozai said, sounding like the worst sort of megalomaniacal villain – which to Aang's mind, sounded just about right – as Ong took the stage.

"Yes, I have," she said. "And you're going down!"

"No, it is _YOU_ who are going down!" Ozai countered. "With the power of Sozin's Comet flowing from the heavens, I have all the power in the world!"

Aang, or rather, Ong, tried to do her own firebending, but actor Ozai batted away the streamers idly, before moving through the most overdone firebending Kata that Aang had ever seen. And then, rushing across the stage came a wave of red fire... in the form of rippling cloth. It wrapped and surrounded Ong, who let out an overly dramatic death-cry.

"It is over, Father," Actress Azula said, pulling herself uncomfortably close to Actor Ozai. "We are victorious!"

"_YES_!" Ozai declared. "We have done it! The dreams of my father and grandfather have been realized!" A banner began to drape down behind them. "The world... is mine!"

The red and black flame banner flapped behind them, and the crowd began to cheer. Zuko began to bang his head on the rail, pain obvious in his expression. Yeah, it was a bad play but... then it dawned on Aang, that Zuko had grown up expecting to rule these people. If they were so enthusiastic to see him die, to see Ozai conquer the planet... The curtain fell, and everybody left the booth.

"That play was terrible," Aang said.

"I'll say," Zuko muttered.

"I wasn't even _in_ the last act!" Ty Lee complained.

"Don't feel so bad. Everybody who was, died," Katara muttered.

"The effects were decent..." Sokka offered. The girls from the next booth came out laughing, and walked toward them. Zuko's eyes snapped up to them.

"You guys were incredible," a grey eyed girl at their lead said to Sokka. "I came here thinking I was going to be bored out of my mind. The real show was in the balcony. You should come to these plays more often."

"Made me a woman..." one of the others chuckled as she walked past. The gang shared glances. Sokka shrugged.

* * *

Zuko stared at the water under the balcony, trying to not do something he'd regret. He didn't doubt he was angry enough to let azure fires flare, but considering he was one of exactly two people in the world who could, it would point an arrow at him from the heavens. These were his people, and they cheered as he died.

"I warned you that you might get this reaction in Ember," Mai said, standing next to him, her eyes always scanning along the people leaving the theatre. "Ozai has a lot of influence in this part of the nation."

"I didn't think it would hurt like this, though," Zuko said.

"You always were soft-hearted," Mai said. Zuko looked up at her. "I didn't say that was a bad thing. Most of the time, anyway."

"Ozai can't stay Fire Lord, but Azula would probably be worse," Zuko said. "Iroh is gone, and I'm the most hated man in the Nation. How are our people going to survive?"

"They will, because we always have in the past," Mai said simply. "You're being entirely too hard on yourself."

"Offering sympathy?" Zuko asked. "Wow. I must really look pathetic."

"If you looked pathetic, I would have pitched you over the railing," Mai said flatly, but with a smirk on her face. "You just need some perspective, and I'm always willing to offer it."

Zuko nodded. Every time he faltered, she always reminded him of what he needed more than anything else. A year ago, he would have called her his conscience. Since he now had no doubts that his own was functioning properly, that made her his thumos, his motivation, his spirit, his drive. An idea popped into his head, daft and mad and enticing.

"I've had a notion," Zuko said. Mai raised an eyebrow. "We're traitors with pretty much nothing to our names. We're on an insane quest, which is almost certainly going to end in our deaths, especially if that play has any truth to it..."

"Where are you going with this?" Mai asked.

"Marry me," Zuko said. Her eyes widened, which was the equivalent of any other woman in the world gaping in shock. "Right now."

"I know you _could_ feel better but..."

"I'm not doing this because of that," he motioned toward the stage-house. "It's just the right thing for me to do. I know it in my heart."

"Always listening to your heart over your head," Mai said, but not unkindly. She suddenly smiled, that small, quiet way she did. "I guess my little warning sunk in, did it?"

"You could say that," Zuko said. Mai walked with him, her hand holding his own.

"We haven't consulted the fortune tellers," Mai said.

"We both know we're doomed," Zuko answered.

"We haven't had our parents decide if we were compatible," Mai teased.

"Yeah, because I'm just going to ask _anybody_ to be my wife," Zuko countered.

"You haven't given a bridal price," she said.

"I couldn't afford you with all the wealth in the Fire Nation."

Mai laughed at that. Actually laughed. "And they say you're not romantic," she shook her head. "It won't be much of a ceremony," she said quietly.

Zuko looked ahead. "Hey!" all of the Avatar's companions, teachers, and student turned back. "We're getting married. Want to come?"

"Good one, Zuko," Sokka said sarcastically, but Ty Lee burst into a girlish shriek of delight which drove everybody nearby to cover their ears in pain. She rushed over and tackled Mai with a hug which actually pulled her free of Zuko's grasp.

"Oh I knew it was going to happen to you one day I'm so happy for you do I need to get a dress?" she said, one run-on sentence without any clue when or if she was going to stop until she let out another shriek. This one left Zuko's ears ringing.

"No, just follow us to the Fire Sage," Mai said. Ty Lee separated and ran over to her man.

"Wedding wedding wedding wedding wedding..." she repeated, drawing the most comically baffled look from Sokka that Zuko had ever seen. In short order, she was dragging Sokka, and by proxy everybody else in Aang's coterie toward Lesser Ember's sole resident Fire Sage, an ancient man who was at least half blind and probably even more senile.

"Um... congratulations?" Aang said, seemingly just as confused as everybody else as they walked. "Right? Of course. Congratulations."

"We're all happy for you," Katara said, and she seemed a bit astounded that she was telling the truth. Of course, a month ago, she wanted to kill him, so it was a bit of a change. Toph just walked past him, slugging him in the arm as she went. That left Mai and Zuko at the back of the pack, walking along the sand in the dying light of the evening. He turned to her.

"If I could, I'd give you so much more," Zuko said, a smile on his face. "As it is, I'm giving you everything I have."

"Big words, Prince Zuko," she said.

"I'm not a..."

"I've read your scrolls. I call it as I see it," she said. She smirked. "You know what's really annoying?"

"What?"

"If my father heard about this, he'd be leaping for joy."

"That you're marrying a traitor?" Zuko asked. She rolled her eyes and moved ahead. The group was clustered around the Fire Sage's house, a structure quite unlike the others in Lesser Ember. This had more in common with the Sun Warriors buildings, golden domes and tapering terraces, than it did with local Embiar structure. Ty Lee had already knocked on the door, and her impatience was clearly getting the better of her. The door finally swung open, and the ancient man looked out at them.

"We're getting married," Mai said neutrally. He looked toward them, his rheumy eyes finally stopping on her.

"Really? Come to Ember Island to elope?" he asked, his voice thin and reedy. "Come back in the morning when you're sober."

"I don't think I've ever seen him drink," Aang said. Sokka had to hold in a belly laugh, though. Zuko shot him a look promising repercussions if he did something untoward.

"Well, you look old enough to think for yourself," the Fire Sage said. "Who endorses this union?"

The gang looked amongst themselves. Toph seemed to think fastest, pulling out her watermelon out of Agni only knows where, and wearing it as a helmet again. "I, the **Melonlord**, endorse this marriage!" she proclaimed.

"Melonlord," the Fire Sage nodded, his thoughts obviously not in good order. "I think I've heard of him. Fine. Just give me a moment. I need to find my..."

"You're really going to do this?" Sokka asked.

"She'd probably stab me right now if I didn't," Zuko said gently. Mai leaned close, though, and whispered into his ear.

"I'm going to let you in on a little secret. I'm not carrying any weapons."

Looking back Zuko would be able to remember right up to that moment in the night. However, from that moment onward, the sheer factor of distraction those five words implanted into his mind made everything waft away. But it was the right decision. He knew that in his heart.

* * *

Everybody else was tired, and had retired to wherever they felt like landing. Toph slept out in a boat, because she didn't want to have to 'see' how the Dark Prince and his new wife would be celebrating their marriage. Aang and Katara went out to sleep under the stars. Since Sokka slept like the dead anyway, he was the only one who stayed in the house, albeit, for everybody's sake, at the far end of it.

Ty Lee was too wound up to sleep. Weddings! She might not be ready for one herself, but there wasn't anything happier than attending the wedding of two of her oldest friends. She was practically beside herself. She happily hand-walked along the path until it reached the streets of the town, and she then began bounding across rooftops, just enjoying the happy energy which the day had given her. It had started out so badly, too, with them flying through the night away from Azula. That brought her down a notch. Azula. Nobody else had seen what she saw. They couldn't have. Azula's mind was breaking, and there wasn't anything she could do to help her.

She stopped with her gallivanting, and decided to just walk amongst civilization for a while, taking in the sights and listening to the voices around her. She eventually sweet-talked her way past a bouncer into a fairly upscale bar. She didn't drink, but she liked being around people, so there were few better places for her. She drank in _humanity_, feeling that vibration which ran through everybody, whether they knew it or not.

"But what happened to the Baihus, that's just not right," a voice came out of the crowd.

"Did they ever find out who did that?" a response came.

"Naw, just vanished into the night. I don't even think they bothered finding the bodies."

Ty Lee instantly snapped to attention, and ran over to that table. The two talking were merchants, people often moving throughout the Fire Nation. "What did you say about House Baihu? What happened?"

"You've been away from the world a while, have you?" the older of the two asked. He shrugged. "Back on the day of the eclipse, the Fire Lord declared them traitors and enemies of the state."

"But w... they've always been loyal to the Fire Lord," she said. The old man shrugged, scratching at his mutton chops.

"I can't say as why, but the hammer fell fast," he said. "Their house was burned down later that day, and every one of them was declared dead."

Ty Lee backed away. This couldn't be right. She looked deeper, into that man's aura. He thought he was telling the truth. The other, commiserating, was equally honest. No. This couldn't happen! Not to her family! "I've... got to go," she said, before shoving people aside. When they couldn't move out of her way fast enough, she airbent them out of her path, grown men flying through the air and crashing into tables so that she could get outside. This couldn't be! She glanced around, spotting a news-board. She raced over to it, wind rushing past her when she came to a stop.

Ty Lee tore through the papers, and her eyes burst into wetness when she held the page before them. _House Baihu declared traitor, expunged_. Just like that. Lives erased and they couldn't even use a complete sentence. No. This didn't happen. This couldn't happen! She began to run. She had always been fast at running, but since she started to actually learn airbending instead of doing it unconsciously, she was faster than just about everybody. Wind resistence stopped getting in her way and started working for her. So Ty Lee crossed the distance to the Fire Lord's winter house with speed unmatched by any creature on this Earth. She was moving so fast that she almost ran through Aang, who was walking away from the doors on the path. She came to a halt in front of him.

"What are you doing up..." Aang asked, but trailed off as he saw her state. "What happened?"

"I need to go home," Ty Lee said. Aang looked back at the house, then to her, and nodded. There wasn't a word offered or taken, but both knew. She wasn't going home alone.

* * *

_I learned about Mood Whiplash by watching Supernatural. Leave a review._


	17. Small Miracles

**Yup. Steadily getting longer. Just look at the preamble as means of example.**

**There's a bit of device I really should have gotten to explaining at some earlier point, but it hasn't had plot relevance until now. The Avatar is neither the only human who can enter the spirit world nor the only one who can meaningfully interact with spirits. If he/she was, then those spirits would get awfully pissed having to wait sixteen years every time one of them croaked. Shamans, mortals who can see and pass into the Spirit world, fill that gap. While the Avatar is by nature both a bender and a Shaman, more often than not, having both traits in a single person is extremely rare. Most Shamans are non-benders, like Princess Yue was. In the Fire Nation, the only shamans allowed and endorsed by the state are the Fire Sages, some of whom are firebenders. Shamans can be both born and made; if not born with the 'gift', being forcefully taken into the Spirit world in body alters one's soul so that they 'become' a Shaman. This was how Iroh was able to see Aang and Fang during his first journey to speak with Avatar Roku. An Avatar can form a bridge into the Spirit world, allowing things to pass back and forth between them. He can even bring non-Shamans into the Spirit. Shamans can only take themselves, or assist other Shamans in entering the Spirit. Unless you're Iroh. Because he's awesome.**

**This is a chapter I wanted to do, and was happy to get done as it was. Even so, it was shortened drastically, a lot of chaff having to be removed.**

**To answer a few things noted in the reviews: Zuko hasn't gotten around to naming his Dragon yet. It's going to be rough for him when he eventually has kids, I'm tellin' you. The lemur is a wild animal, so nobody's named her. Well, somebody has, but that was only in an alternate reality where Aang came to the Western Temple before the Southern. The monkey knows more about it. Ask him. As for Azula, her decline is not coming faster, but in fact, much more gradually. Depending on whether you're looking at the page or the notions inside my head, her complete fall into psychosis either started when Daddy Dearest sent her on her fetch quest, or else, whatever murkily defined events transpired when Azula was thirteen.**

* * *

It was good to be happy.

That wasn't a thought that passed through the mind of the Dark Prince very often. Especially considering how seldom it ever did occur. But this morning, with the familiar summer heat pressing against his skin, the sun filtering through a thin skein of clouds in the mid-morning, and the pale skin of a woman he loved practically glowing where the light touched her, he couldn't hold in a smile. Today, just this one day, it was good to be Zuko.

Mai, of course, was sleeping like the dead. While she might have had all the skills that an assassin would envy, her sleeping habits weren't one of them. She would probably be like that for a while. She wasn't a woman to watch sunrises. Zuko, on the other hand, was a child of Fire. He rose with the sun, quite literally. He pulled a robe on, cinching it tight and pulling the door closed behind him as he went into the hallway. He wondered if he should get Mai breakfast. It seemed like the proper thing to do. His bare feet didn't make a sound as he walked over old, polished wood, until he reached the upper floor of the atrium, with its stairwell reaching down.

Sokka, bleary eyed and groggy, almost walked into Zuko. He pulled up short, then gave a goofy grin when his brain caught up to his eyes. "Well, if it isn't the newlywed," Sokka said. "Hell of a night, huh?"

"That is none of your damned business," Zuko said flatly, but he couldn't restrain a smirk. Sokka laughed and Zuko found an arm being draped over his shoulder, and being directed down the stairs.

"I've gotta say, I'd never expected you to be the first one to fall from our hallowed echelons," Sokka said. "You always seemed so... well, dorky and unlovable."

"Thanks," Zuko said, dubiously. "Wait. Hallowed echelons?"

"Bachelors!" Sokka exclaimed, making a grandiose gesture. "Mind if I ask a personal question?"

"Could I possibly stop you?" Zuko asked.

"Well..."

"Seriously. Is there any way to make you stop asking questions?" Zuko pressed. Sokka just shook his head, taking it for a joke, and continued.

"What's up with her, anyway? I know, pale, bright eyed beauty and all that, but she just seems so cold. What do you see in her?"

"Stability, honesty, integrity, a woman who's cared about me since we were both that high," Zuko held out his hand at around waist level. It was galling that the Tribesman had become taller than him. But then again, Tribesmen _did_ get very large. Sokka had to admit, from the expression on his face, that Zuko had a point.

Zuko was about to continue, but he heard a creak in the room below. Zuko pressed Sokka against the wall with one hand and cocked his head to the side, trying to get a second sounding. Sokka seemed to grasp the sudden urgency, and remained silent. Another creak, like somebody shifting their weight on the floor. Zuko leaned down, peering around the edge of the corner. The room, open to the world ever since Zuko blasted the door down, had a lit candle standing on a table. A man was leaning against a supporting pole, and was reading a scroll. Not just any scroll. Those dangerous, unimaginably important scrolls.

"_Don't worry, I've already made reproductions,_" the man said, his Tianxia clearly accented in the tones of Ba Sing Se. "_I have to say, it would have done us all a world of good if you had come forward with these more quickly, Dark Prince._"

Zuko moved into the hall, his hands before him in a firebending stance. "Who are you?" The man turned up to him, revealing a gaping hole where one eye should be. Zuko's stance faltered a bit. "Mister Han?"

"Secretariat Han," Han corrected. "Of the Dai Li, and newly an Initiate in the Order. I could say that 'the war has come to Ba Sing Se', but at this point, it seems more than a little obvious. I was planning to make my presence known at a more appropriate time, but information has come to light which is extremely time-sensitive. Where are the others?"

"Who?"

"The Avatar, the waterbender, the Azuli noble, the acrobat?" Han asked. "They cannot know that I am here, nor what I am about to tell you."

"But I can?" Sokka asked.

"Of course. Puon Tim told me another Initiate had shown himself on the Island. To think it would be you," Zuko and Sokka shared a very confounded look. A realization dawned on Sokka's face, but Zuko couldn't dig into it, and neither did he have time to. "As for the earthbender, since the information affects her fairly directly, it is only fair that she be included in it's dissemination."

"I don't understand," Zuko said. Han glanced over to him, then knocked three times on the table next to him. Zuko frowned. Han repeated himself. It was like he was knocking on a door. Zuko pondered for a moment, and suddenly was confronted by an unusual memory, of a flower shop on the edges of the Si Wong Desert. What had Iroh said? "Who dares knock at the Garden Gate?" Zuko attempted.

"One who has eaten the fruit and tasted its mysteries," Han answered, a smirk on his face. "I see your uncle has brought you into the fold."

"Iroh isn't my uncle," Zuko said. Han glanced back down at the page, and his eyebrows drew up.

"That casts this in an entirely different light. You should have approached us sooner, Prince Zuko," Han said. He shook his head, rolling the scroll back up and placing them back into their fire resistant case. "But that is a matter for a different time. Initiate, could you fetch the earthbender?" he said to Sokka. "She will need to hear this."

"Initiate?" Zuko asked. Sokka shrugged, but went back toward the pier at the rear of the house, to the boat that Toph had slept in. Zuko turned to Han. "Have you been in contact with Iroh?"

"Not recently," Han said. "He last contacted me during the eclipse."

"So he's alright," Zuko said, his eyes pressing closed and a breath of relief wafting out.

"Of course," Han said. He looked like he was going to speak more, but Sokka returned, with the grumbling, obviously still half-asleep Toph at his side. She wasn't wearing pants, only a shirt which probably belonged to Ozai years ago hanging almost to her knees.

"Alright, I'm here. What's the big – who the hell is that?" she asked, as though suddenly realizing that they weren't alone. Being groggy must kill when one sees with one's feet.

"_Tuofu Beifong,_" Han said quite formally. "_It is with great regret that I must inform you of the conquer of Shr-Wa by the Fire Nation one day past. The carnage was horrible. Many did not survive._"

Toph looked confused. "_What are you saying?_" she asked. Her blinded eyes went wide. "_My parents, are they alright?_"

"_No,_" Han said quietly. "_Your mother is a prisoner of war, being shipped north past the Great Divide to Ba Sing Se. Your father... did not survive the assault._"

Toph just stared for a moment, and took a deep breath. If Zuko didn't know Toph, he would have expected her to cry. Toph didn't cry. A deep-set expression of anger pulled its way onto her, her jaw set and her useless eyes narrowed. "Why are you telling me this?"

"You deserved to know," Han said. "Yingsu has been long a member of our order."

"Who the hell is Yingsu?" Toph asked. "Mom's name is Poppy."

"Which translates into..." Zuko said. Toph gave him a shove which actually made him stagger a few steps.

"Not one word," Toph promised, her face still toward Han. "Where is she now?"

"A part of a prison convoy headed north," Han said. "Depending on your level of speed, you might reach them in time to stop them. They are going around the Great Divide, a path which will add weeks to their journey and bring them close to the west coast of the East Continent."

"You want me to break my mother out?" Toph asked.

"I am giving you the opportunity. Given your need here, it must be in your hands alone," Han said. He turned to Zuko. "We should meet again on better terms, Prince Zuko. Every time we meet, somebody is in danger of dying."

Zuko didn't respond to that as the Dai Li Secretariat left the room. When he did, Toph gave one shuddering breath, her expression shifting to a flash of sorrow. It was as close as Zuko ever came to seeing the earthbender weep. Just as quickly as it came, it passed, and she jabbed a finger toward Zuko. "Get Appa."

"What?" Zuko asked.

"She's right," Sokka said. "You need to help her find her mother."

"Why me?" Zuko asked. "I mean, I know I'm a pretty good firebender, and I know the land from my time there, and I know all about prison convoys, but... Right. I _am_ the one you need."

"I was referring to the fact that you can see. I can't, in case you forgot," Toph said. "Say goodbye to your wife. As soon as I get my pants, we're leaving."

"You should _never_ be without pants," Zuko counciled. She cast a rude gesture at him as she walked away.

"What about me?" Sokka asked.

"Tell your sister and Aang where we went," Zuko said. "We can't have him panicking."

"Tell me about it," Sokka said. He gave an aside glance toward Toph. "Don't let her down."

"I have no intention of it."

* * *

Hot, dry wind blasted across Di Huo, and they stared at the carnage below. Aang was tired; the flight had been long, and without Appa doing most of the work, it taxed him deeply. Ty Lee had the strangest look on her face as she walked through the ruins of what used to be their house. Everything Aang knew about her made him expect her to cry. To wail. To fall to her knees and let the tears fly until they were exhausted. But she just looked... blank.

Ty Lee walked through the ashes. The house had been made of wood, which would have been tough to pull off, considering the island was mostly coal-mining, and had little vegetation to speak of. She stopped in some places, casting out her hand. Ashes blasted away. They were long cold. This was not recent. Very not recent. Most of the time, her blasts of wind revealed nothing but charred boards and stone. Sometimes, though, they revealed burnt and smashed bones. When they did, she stared, silent, expressionless.

"Ty Lee, are you alright?"

She turned to him, her big brown eyes pools into oblivion. There was nothing human there. She kept walking. There was rubble in her way, more than a wave of her hand could remove. Aang prepared to earthbend it away for her, but she beat him to the punch, blasting the rubble into the sky with one strike of airbending, then blasting it away from the house with a second. So she had been paying attention. Pity he had to learn like this. Under that rubble were a pile of bones. She fell to her knees, staring at them. Aang recoiled from the sight. From the skulls, smashed and charred, there had to be four of them, all huddled together.

"My sisters," Ty Lee said, her voice flatter than Mai's, if that could be believed.

"You can't know that," Aang said.

"I know it," Ty Lee answered, as emotional as the ashes she was kneeling in. "I wasn't here for them. I never said goodbye."

"Ty Lee..."

"Ozai did this," Ty Lee said, her eyes sliding open again. She stood, not even bothering to wipe away the stains on her legs. "Every thing he touches is poisoned. He has taken everything I love away from me. I have to kill him."

Aang's eyes bugged. "What? You can't mean that," he said. She couldn't! This was _Ty Lee_! The only one in the gang more dedicated to pacifism than _he_ was!

"I mean it," she said, her tone beginning to heat. "Do you know what I saw when Azula tried to kill us?" Aang shook his head. "I saw Ozai inside her. Poisoning her. I loved her, and he took her away from me. He tortured and murdered an innocent little girl, his own daughter, and turned her into... _that_."

"You can't give in to hatred," Aang said. "If you do..."

"If I do, then maybe I'll have some justice!" Ty Lee shouted, and Aang had to take a step back and away from her. She _never_ shouted in rage. Come to think of it, Aang had never heard her _express_ rage before. It was like until this moment, she had never felt, harbored or understood hatred. But she was feeling it now. "He had them deemed traitors the day of the Eclipse! They didn't even know I'd betrayed them, and he already had them killed!"

"Don't walk down this path, Ty Lee," Aang said, trying to comfort her.

"Don't touch me!" Ty Lee jabbed him in the hand, which became numb and limp. Her eyes flared, and her tone was as dead as the family around her. "I am going to Ozai, and I am going to kill him. And it will be slow. I will paralyze his diaphragm, and let him suffocate slowly. I will stare into his eyes as he dies and he will know that _he did this to himself_!"

"Ty Lee, stop!" Aang shouted. "Don't you see what you're doing?"

Ty Lee stared at him. "What?"

"You're becoming him!" Aang said. "That anger? That's his poison. If you let it into you, then you're letting him kill the best part of you as well. Please, don't do this. I don't want to lose another friend."

Ty Lee stared at him, but this time, her eyes were beginning to grow damp. "But he needs to pay for this. He took my family away from me," she said, her voice quivering.

"Sozin took mine. Azulon took Sokka and Katara's," Aang said. "This war, it's bringing the worst out of everybody. But it can also show us our strength. I know how angry you are, Ty Lee. I've felt that anger. When I saw what happened to Gyatso, when I lost Appa... when I failed at Sozin City... I know anger. And I know how much it burns inside you, yearning for release. But you have to be strong enough to not give in. For them," Aang said. He added quietly, "for us."

Ty Lee finally let the tears flow. Aang pulled her close, and she wept into the shoulder of his shirt. It was a pain Aang knew all too well. There was a similar stain on Katara's shoulder. He walked her away from the ruins of what used to be her life, away from her dead sisters, her dead parents, her dead servants. All snuffed out in a heartbeat. And Aang had a fairly good idea who did it. From the blasts, the craters, the way the place seemed to be caught completely off guard and leveled in seconds... it could only have been Combustion Man. If Sokka hadn't already killed him, Aang would have probably been angry enough to shelve his personal ban on killing.

Aang waited with his student, the only airbender besides him in the entire world, until she finally stopped crying, staring down with puffy, red eyes. "I should bury the bodies," Aang said quietly. She reached forward and caught his sleeve.

"Don't bother," she said quietly. "They've already returned to the flame. Just leave them in peace."

Aang sat back down. "If I'd have known..."

"None of us did," Ty Lee said quietly. "And there wasn't anything we could have done anyway."

The rational part of Aang agreed with her. But the irrational part, that part which always tickled at the back of his consciousness laughed at him, chided him, taunted him. Everybody Aang touched, suffered. Everything he associated with, was destroyed. Much as Ozai was poison, so was Aang. And now, his poison had seeped into the most innocent, kindest girl in the entire Fire Nation, and made her hunger for murder. He was a monster.

"What am I?" Aang suddenly asked. Ty Lee turned to him. "I know I'm the Avatar. I used to be the last of the airbenders. But I'm not anymore. I used to think I was the last of the Air Nomads but..." he rubbed a hand through his short hair. "I'm not even sure I'm that, anymore. What am I?"

"I don't know," Ty Lee said. "I could ask the same of myself."

Aang pulled his knees up to his chest, feeling the skin on his back pull tight. He wasn't as nimble as he used to be, ever since he died. The muscles in his back weren't as supple. He wasn't as flexible. Scar tissue was some of the hardest, the most transformative. What, then, had his scars turned him into?

"Ty Lee," Aang said. "There's something I need to try."

"What is it?"

"In the Spirit world, there is something called the Sea of Souls," Aang said. "I can't promise you anything... but there might be a chance for you to say goodbye to your family."

Ty Lee stared at him. "How?"

"Just sit here, and close your eyes," Aang said. "Listen to the words I say, the way they flow from my mouth. Not the meanings, let the meaning flow away. Just listen to the sounds. The tones. The rise and fall of my voice. Feel the pull and push of your breath. Drink in the air, and feel it flow through you. And open yourself. Feel the world around you as though for the first time."

Ty Lee was silent, her face empty. Aang shifted into the pose she'd taken without even thinking about it, and did cleared his mind. "Open your mind," Aang said, "and let everything that lies beyond reach you. And let it in, Ty Lee. Let it in."

When Aang opened his eyes, he was standing beside Ty Lee. But they weren't on a hillside in Di Huo, beside the ruins of her home. They stood in a realm of rolling green grasses, a dusty golden sky, clouds which hung silver against that sky.

The Spirit world.

* * *

Mai took Zuko's sudden departure the day after their wedding far better than Sokka thought she would have. Of course, he didn't have a lot of experience around her; even his sister knew her better than he did. But she took the whole situation, her husband departing for another continent with a fifteen year old blind girl with a great deal of aplomb. Sure, she had some choice profanities to say of him when she first came down with Zuko's breakfast tray, but she calmed quickly.

Katara, on the other hand, seemed to be beside herself, and for a reason that Sokka conld appreciate. At some point in the night, Aang and Ty Lee had vanished, leaving no indications of where they'd went or how long they'd be gone. Sokka had scoured the area in the early morning, but there was no sign that they'd been taken. In fact, they'd even had the forethought to bring food with them, so the chances of them being kidnapped were slim.

Sokka, though, didn't feel like spending the whole day worrying or complaining. So he and Mai came up with a little competition. He knew that she was devastatingly effective with her knives, and she knew that he was a master of trick-shots with his boomerang. Both had to admit, that when it came to throwing things, they were both on a level few others shared. When Sokka found that elastic ball, made of something Ty Lee referred to as rubber, the notion came into his head and wouldn't be denied.

The rules were simple. Throw the ball at the other one. If you hit, you get points. If they caught it, they got points. If you could hit them in the face, more points. So far, he'd hit her once, and she'd hit him twice, but their points were mostly from catching each other's throws. In all, they were nearly dead even.

Sokka lined up his shot as she walked down a corridor, a fresh blanket draped over an arm. A grin split his face, and he leapt up out of his hiding place. "SNEAK ATTACK!" he shouted, hurling the ball. She turned almost casually, using the blanket to catch the ball. She held it between two long fingers as he wilted.

"Sneak attacks only work if you don't shout them out," Mai said flatly. Sokka let out a groan.

"What's the score?" Sokka asked.

"Eighteen for you, fifteen... no, sixteen for me," Mai said, staring at the ball. "You should try harder."

"I'll get you next time, just you watch," Sokka said, turning away. He could practically hear her rolling her eyes.

"Sokka, one more thing," Mai said, an odd tone in her voice. He turned back, just in time for the ball to smash him between the eyes and cause him to pitch onto his back. Mai walked over and stared down at him with an amused look on her face. "Sneak attack. I win."

"Ow," Sokka responded.

* * *

"This is... weird," Ty Lee said, staring at that impossible sky. Aang nodded, a faint smile on his face. "Like, really weird."

"Yeah, I get that," her airbending master admitted. He was looking around for something, but Ty Lee couldn't guess what. She walked over to one of the trees, staring upward at the plums which hung tantalizingly just out of reach. She smiled even in her pain, and flicked her hand out, channeling a small bit of airbending to knock it down. Nothing happened. She frowned, and tried again. Nothing continued to happen. She let out a grumble, and then just tried jumping to it. She found her leaps leaving her annoyingly close to the ground.

"Aang, what's going on?" Ty Lee asked. Aang turned to her, trying to grab a plum from a tree, and ran fingers through his hair.

"Bending doesn't work in the Spirit world. I'm not sure why," Aang said. "Try a stick."

Ty Lee scowled, but did as he asked, picking up a stick and prodding the plum until it fell into her hand. She bit into it. It didn't taste like a plum at all. It was like eating a sunny day. It was full of warmth and she could taste a cooling breeze sweeping in from the south, the hint of rain with the evening, and the long days. It blasted away her melancholy, giving her a moment of pure joy to temper her grief. Having her tongue tell her all that was startling. She leaned back from her bit plum. That must be how Toph feels when she walks. She looked over to Aang. "What are you looking for, anyway?"

"An old friend of mine," Aang said. "Usually he finds me pretty quickly, unless I'm in and out too fast."

"What does he look like?"

"Black and white," Aang said. Ty Lee looked around, then pointed.

"Is that it?"

"That's a sky bison," Aang dismissed, then stopped, his eyes growing wide and turning to where she'd pointed. In the time it took, the thing she'd seen vanished beyond the terrain. "Ty Lee, did you just see a sky bison?"

"Did you?" she asked. He had a look, somewhere between utter disbelief and crippling hope. She knew she was going to have to run after him. So they did. Running here wasn't tiring, which was good, because it took them a lot more effort and was a lot slower than it was in the real world. Or was it just the Physical world? What was the real world? Who judged? Ty Lee's momentary distraction caused her foot to tangle on a root, almost throwing her onto her face. But while Ty Lee might have lost her bending, she was still an acrobat, and managed to stylishly avoid a faceplant. The two finally reached the point where that shape vanished. Nothing was there. "I'm sorry, Aang."

"It's alright," Aang said, but he looked devastated. "I guess it was too much to hope."

Ty Lee gave Aang a much needed hug. Truth be told, Ty Lee needed it too. While she was in the middle of that hug, something bumped against them, something big and black and white and a panda. Ty Lee's eyes went wide.

"Aang?" she asked.

"Heibai!" Aang shouted, giving the massive panda a hug to the head. The panda spirit gave a contented sound. "This is my friend Heibai. Heibai, this is my student, Ty Lee."

"Hello, Heibai," Ty Lee said. The panda nuzzled her with his big nose.

"We met over two years ago, just before the summer solstice," Aang said. "Heibai was so angry and confused because its forest had been burned down, but once I showed it that the forest would grow back, it calmed down. Isn't that right?"

Heibai let out a grunting sound. Aang pulled himself up onto its back, and held a hand out for Ty Lee. "What are you...?" Ty Lee asked.

"Come on. Heibai's much faster than either of us could be alone," Ty Lee looked up, then at the world around her. She took his hand, and was hauled up. It was then that she noticed her clothes. They weren't the pink frilly things she usually wore. For some reason, she was wearing orange robes, like the ones Aang used to wear, before Ba Sing Se. What was that about?

"I'm afraid," Ty Lee admitted. "I don't know what's going on."

"That's alright," Aang said. "You get used to this after a while."

"Are you sure?"

"Not really," Aang said, but unlike before, when they were in the Mortal world, it was with a broad smile, and an easy laugh. It was like now that he was here, he could be the Aang which came to Kyoshi Island three years ago. The Aang that she first met. The Aang who showed her what it was to be an airbender, who made her hunger for it in her soul.

"I trust you," she said, clinging tight to his back. The panda moved through the realm, and Ty Lee lost herself in memories of happier days.

* * *

Zuko landed the bison amidst the sharp defiles of the Great Divide. He hated having to leave his only way of escaping on the lower ground, but it was the only way to hide a twelve tonne bison with any surety of confidence. Toph had been fairly silent the entire trip, which suited him well enough; he was never really sure what to talk about with the earthbender. There was weird, and then there was Toph.

Zuko peered across the great distances. Distance was something the East Continent had in droves; in the Fire Nation, it was hard to walk ten li and not find civilization. Here, it was possible to walk from sea to sea without encountering another human soul. Zuko felt the tiny dragon stepping lightly across his shoulders. One of these days, he was going to have to think of a name for the little creature. It didn't seem to want to be anywhere but around Zuko. And, unless he was mistaken, it was getting bigger.

"What do you see?" Toph asked. While she had extremely good 'eyes' for close encounters, she couldn't see miles away. It wasn't Zuko's sharpest sense, either, but he had vision, and she did not, so it was his job to look for the person they were told to rendezvous with.

"Rocks," Zuko said. "Lots of rocks."

"You're about as helpful as an Earth Kingdom airship," Toph muttered. Zuko raised his eyebrow.

"The Earth Kingdoms had airships?"

"Yeah, they're called rocks. Which they throw. You know what, you're not my intended audience," Toph shook her head. Zuko looked back, and he spotted just a flicker of movement.

"I think we've got him," Zuko said. He motioned Toph to silence, and waited, pulling in calm breaths, peering over the edge of the short butte that they were hiding atop. The figure moved quietly, head swinging to and fro, as though paranoid of pursuit; it was quite likely he was justified in that. When he reached the base of the butte, he stopped, turning back.

Zuko dropped to the scree nearby. Instantly, the youth pulled a bow from his back, knocked an arrow, and had it pointed at Zuko's face. Zuko's eyes went wide. Zuko only knew of two types who could react that fast with the bow. One were the Yu Yan archers, now scattered since the Avatar captured their base of operations, and the other... was this man. Dark haired and dark eyed, his ears flaring entirely too large for his head, long in face, was the man Zuko only knew as Longshot.

"You?" Zuko asked. Longshot leaned back a bit, but didn't relax his draw of the bow.

"Lee?" he asked.

"Zuko, actually," Zuko admitted. Wait a second... "You can talk?"

Longshot gave Zuko a look which clearly said 'are you stupid or something? Of course I can talk.' Longshot then frowned. "So. Jet was right," he said. "You are Fire Nation."

"I am," Zuko said. He waited. "Aren't you going to do something about it?"

Longshot let out a sigh, and finally relaxed his draw. His look said 'I have been doing something about it'. He nodded for Zuko to follow him, but gave another look, which said 'Where is the other one? Weren't there supposed to be two?' It was easy to see why Longshot didn't need to speak much. His expressions could be extremely precise. Zuko let out a whistle, and Toph came sliding down the mountain. Longshot gave a shocked look when he saw her.

"Well, I can't say as I expected to find you alive," Toph said.

"Everybody says you're dead too," Longshot said. His voice was very soft.

"I guess that means we can all be dead together," Zuko snarked. "So what's going on?"

"Long story," Longshot said. "We tried to help out in Shr-Wa, but that didn't turn out too well for us. A lot of dead, a lot captured. First time in my life I'm glad that Fire Nation always takes prisoners. Be worse if we were fighting the Water Tribes. They almost never do."

"Where is the convoy?" Zuko asked.

"Not far," Longshot said. "I prepared some... obstacles to slow them."

"Where is my mother?" Toph asked.

"Who is your mother?" Longshot answered. He shook his head. "As far as I care, there's only two people who need to get out. One of them's Mistress Beifong, and the other..."

Zuko frowned. "Why do you want to rescue Toph's mother?"

Longshot gave a glance toward Toph, an eyebrow rising. "She saved our lives. Led the defensive. Gotta say, I didn't expect that out of her."

"You are talking about Poppy Beifong, aren't you?" Toph asked, incredulous. Longshot nodded. "Slender, simpering, bright green eyes, black hair?"

Longshot's snort clearly said 'I wouldn't call her simpering.'

"You might want to talk," Zuko said. "She's blind," 'Really?' Longshot's look asked. Zuko nodded. His raised brow said 'could have fooled me.' "Yeah, I know," Zuko said. Longshot nodded over a dip in the terrain, and below, choked into place by a small landslide, was the convoy. Zuko quickly counted the armored transports which filled that space. Too many. "Where is she?"

"Don't know," Longshot admitted. "She was a fairly important one. They've got her bound up solid in iron. Can't have an earthbender even _see_ the stone."

"Mom's not an earthbender," Toph said.

"Yes, she is," Longshot replied. "Pretty good one, too."

Toph frowned, crossing her scarred arms over her chest. "Why wouldn't she tell me something like that?"

"We all keep secrets from the people we care about," Zuko said. "Sometimes, its the only way to keep them safe."

"Secrets are overrated, and if you can't keep the people you care about safe, then you're not trying hard enough," Toph countered. "How do we find Mom?"

"I've got... somebody on the inside," Longshot said. "More or less."

"What do you mean, more or less?" Zuko asked.

"Captured one of us," Longshot said. "I'm pretty sure I know where they're keeping her. She'll know where they're keeping Mistress Beifong. Unless she tried to escape again... Which, knowing her, she probably did..."

"You have a lot of confidence in this broad," Toph said.

"She's earned it," Longshot said. "How do we do this?"

Zuko's eyes swept the encampment. "There are way too many to engage head on. We're going to need to be extremely sneaky about this," Zuko dropped low, scratching his beard. "It almost makes me wish we'd brought Sokka along. He'd have some sort of cunning plan."

"We could just turn in Longshot," Toph said.

"Excuse me?" Longshot asked.

Zuko's eyes widened for a moment, but he shook his head. "That won't work twice. That's how we got into Avalanche. They'll be wise to us. Or at least, they'll be wise to me, and I don't think you could pull it off."

"Why not?" Toph asked, indignant.

"You're tiny," Zuko said pragmatically. "I've never seen an Imperial firebender as small as you."

"Right," Toph said, deflated but not defeated. "So how do we get in?"

Zuko thought, sitting against those rocks. How would Iroh approach this situation? He was the Dragon of the West, one of the greatest generals the Fire Nation had ever produced. More than that, he was a constant and reliable source of useful, if cryptic, advice. He sat upright. "Iroh would always say that taking prisoners, though honorable, was one of the riskiest parts of warfare," Zuko mused. "The enemy would always be looking for a means of escape, and can manufacture one out of the slimmest circumstances. Since prisoners always outnumber their guards, their quantity could be a weapon of its own."

"That's not a bad idea," Toph said.

"Release everybody," Longshot said, with a nod. "There'll be chaos."

"But people might get hurt," Zuko said. Probably, actually.

"I don't want to call this acceptable losses... but this is my mom," Toph said. "Look, I get it. You're not a soldier. Longshot is. So is Sokka, and so am I," she continued, starting to pace before Longshot grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down. She had no idea that she could be seen from that distance. She shot Longshot a disapproving glower, but continued. "If you've killed people, it didn't come easy, and for you, it never will. All power to you. But for people like us, there'll come a point where we can kill somebody, and all we feel is muscle strain. It's a harsh truth, but it's still truth."

"So we just need to sacrifice some of those innocent people so that others can escape?" Zuko asked. "No. There has to be a better way."

"If there is, I'm not seeing it," Toph said.

"You're not seeing much of anything," Longshot jibed, a dry smirk on his face. Toph looked a bit shocked, then slugged Longshot in the arm. "I suppose I deserved that."

"I gotta give credit where credit's due," Toph admitted. "So. If we can't just release everybody, how are we going to get my mother out of what has to be the most secure part of the convoy?"

"I didn't say we couldn't release the other prisoners," Zuko said. "We just need to be smart about it. They aren't just mass to add to a charge. If we let the right people out, this could be practically bloodless."

"Practically?"

"Somebody has to hope," Zuko said. He started thinking. There had to be a way to do this right. What Zuko needed was an insane plan. Something which nobody would think of ever being arrayed against them. Something absurd. Zuko needed a Sokka plan. "This is probably going to get me killed. And if it doesn't, Mai _will_ kill me if she ever hears about it."

* * *

Heibai came to a halt, not far from an ocean that seemed to stretch on for eternity. Only the beach stretching just as endlessly separated them from the rest of the Spirit World behind them. Above that grey, still ocean rested a layer of fog, only chest high but uniform in thickness, and rolling over the sand. Aang reached back to help Ty Lee down, but she bounded off without a problem. Even without airbending, she was still an acrobat. She looked out toward the water.

"This is it," Aang said. "The Sea of Souls."

"That doesn't look like water," she said.

"It isn't," Aang explained. He leaned down as close as he dared, a man's height away from it, and prodded at it with a stick. It didn't flow like water, nor adhere to the stick. It was a substance of alien properties. "This is the stuff of souls. When we die, this is what happens to us. We all become this."

Ty Lee looked horrified. "But... what about..."

"This is why Air Nomads don't have any specific burial rites," Aang said. "We all come here when we die, to join the sea of souls."

Ty Lee looked heartbroken, taking a step toward that substance which wasn't water. "But what about my family?"

Aang quickly caught her, before she could move much closer. "Don't touch it," Aang said. "If you do that, while you're here in spirit, it will break the bond connecting you to your body. You'll die."

"Why does this place even exist?" she asked, her eyes welling of tears. Aang sighed.

"Because this is what souls are made of," Aang said. "In both directions. When we die, we bring back that stuff of souls we were, and we give it back. When we're born, a part of this is instilled into us, giving us breath and mind. It's an endless cycle, like the Avatar. We're born, we live, we die, and we return to the Sea of Souls until we're reborn."

Ty Lee looked down. She didn't seem to notice that she was wearing an odd outfit. Her top was an Air Nomad kavi, but her pants were her usual frilly pink sort. Coming to the Spirit World had strange effects on people: one appeared in the Spirit as one pictured oneself. That's why Aang's head was probably shaved here. He ran his hand over his pate... but there was hair. Weird. "But you said..." Ty Lee whispered.

"The only souls which don't come here are those cast into the Pit of Oblivion, or those who make promises to the Heavens that they couldn't fulfill in their lifetimes," Aang continued, easing Ty Lee away from the Sea of Souls. The fog began to slowly roll toward them. "Everybody else comes here. But they can't be reborn with their memories. That isn't allowed. So when they are reborn, their memories remain behind, floating forever, with everybody who ever came before them."

The fog rolled over them, and Ty Lee's eyes went wide. "Aang... I can see them," she said, tears flowing, but a smile pulling at her face. "I can see them all."

"Take your time," Aang said. He couldn't see what she saw; he had no memories for the Fog of Memories to adhere to, nothing that would show anything she cared for. Aang took a few steps away, and breathed in the fog, letting himself remember those people who were most important in life. He opened his eyes, expecting to see the gentle face of Monk Gyatso.

Gyatso wasn't there. Aang's eyes dampened. Nothing ever went right for him. "Don't be sad," An old man's voice said. But at the same time, it was a boy's. Aang turned, and saw a man dressed in that same juxtaposition of clothing that Ty Lee was. Kavi and Fire Nation. Blue tattoos adorned his hands and brow, but they were spectral and immaterial, unlike the proud and clear markings of every Air Nomad spirit he had been told of. "It's good to see an old friend."

"Who are you?" Aang asked. The old man with the spectral arrows became a boy again. One that Aang instantly recognized. "Kuzon?"

"I didn't think it would take this long to see you again," Kuzon said. He frowned, suddenly an old man again. "At least... I think it's been a long time. It's hard to say in this place."

"Why do you look like that?" Aang asked.

"I had to hide who I was," Kuzon answered. He stared at his hands, the tattoos growing a bit more solid for a moment, before fading again. "After the Purge, I knew that some part of your culture... our culture... had to survive. I changed my name, I started a family. I'm ashamed that I turned my back on what I should have fought for..."

"Don't be ashamed," Aang said. "The Air Nomads are gone, but they still live on in spirit. Your grandson, Piandao, carried on your teachings in your name. You would be proud."

"I would be," Kuzon said, smiling. "He was always such a spiritual boy, even when he was so very young. I would have liked to see him grow older, but I was already an old man," Kuzon leaned forward. "You have aged as well. You're not the boy I knew. What happened to you?"

"The War happened," Aang said bitterly. "Everything I loved was taken away from me. The Temples, my people, even the Bison were wiped out."

"The bison are not gone," Kuzon said, incredulous. "They simply hid."

Aang frowned. "Yeah, an entire species of fifteen-tonne flying white fuzzy creatures managed to hide for a century," he said. Although, he had to admit, the dragons managed to do exactly that.

"They didn't hide in the world," Kuzon said, as though stating the most obvious thing in the world. "When the South Temple fell, they all fled."

"To where? Where else is there but the world?"

"Here," Kuzon said.

Aang stared, and he began to hear chanting, coming from across the Sea of Souls.

"What do you mean?"

"The Sky Bison are spirit guides. Such creatures have an unbreakable connection to this realm, and to the Earth," Kuzon said. "They, like you, bridge that gap. But being animals, they don't understand that ability, nor how to use it voluntarily. They aren't intelligent. Not like dragons. But if they were shown the bridge..."

"Then they could come home," Aang finished. "The Sky Bison could return to the world."

Kuzon nodded. "It was good to see you, Aang," Kuzon said. "I hope this isn't the last time."

"It won't be," Aang lied. Kuzon had never been told that Aang was Avatar. Avatars didn't ever return to the Sea of Souls. Their memories had to be pulled away, but kept intact. He would never be part of that coalescence.

_Na mo a mi tuo fu xin nei_

Aang turned from the shore, and walked over to Ty Lee. She'd fallen to her knees, a bright smile on her face, and she whispered into the fog. The words weren't for his ears. She stood, moving to give what would have been a hug if somebody had been there to receive it. A plan was forming in Aang's mind. A mad, insane, inscrutable, Sokka plan. No, it definitely wasn't a Sokka plan; he wanted to have as little to do with the Spirit World as was possible. But it was insane and inscrutable. Ty Lee turned back to Aang.

"Thank you," she said, a grateful look on her face. "At least I know I'm not alone."

"We're always here for you," Aang said.

"No," she said. "Aan Jee and Zhu Di weren't there. They're still alive."

"That's great news," Aang said. She smiled, and Aang found himself being thoroughly hugged again. "Aaaah. Ty Lee, I can't breathe..."

Ty Lee let him go, and began to walk away from the shores. "I think I'm ready to go back," she said, that lingering smile still on her face, under sad eyes.

_Na mo a mi tuo fu xin nei_

"I'm not," Aang said. "Heibai!"

The panda spirit came closer, and Aang placed his hand on the beast's brow. In his mind, he pictured a place, so like one that existed in the world. That was the point. There were many places in the world where the Spirit and the Physical touched. The Pillars of Heaven was one of the most powerful, most concrete. It was carried whole between the worlds, a point where two realms met. Heibai began to run, toward that place it could feel with every fiber of its being.

"Where are we going?" Ty Lee asked, as the landscape went streaking by. The Spirit world obeyed different laws than the Physical. That had been made abundantly clear.

"We've lost too much," Aang said. "The world has lost too much to keep going the way it has. When I die, when you die, what will become of the airbenders?" he asked. Ty Lee gave a confused sound. "Appa isn't going to live forever, and we can't just hope that airbending survives us. The Avatar Cycle depends on it."

"What are you going to do?" Ty Lee asked.

"Something impossible. Something insane. Something..." Aang struggled for words. "Miraculous."

* * *

Bi had never been attractive. She was a strange looking little girl, who grew into a strange looking teenager, who eventually ended up as a strange looking young woman. Calling her big-headed and frog-lipped would be about as complimentary as she was ever going to hear. Of course, when she was younger, nobody would dare say that about her, to her face. Always to the back of her head. It hurt just as much.

However painful her childhood was, despite all of the tragedy, there was something of a release in suddenly finding herself an orphan, with Three Hills burning to the ground behind her. A chance to reinvent herself. She might have lost all of her wealth and her power, but she didn't miss it. She could barely even remember it. A new name and some friends from every burnt and blasted part of the Earth Kingdom, and she suddenly found herself having a life, one that neither she nor anybody of the family she didn't really have could have seen coming. Princess Bi of Three Hills died in the fire. Smellerbee rose from the ashes. Bi looked around the caravan, which she had almost all to herself. She didn't put up much hope of surviving much longer.

"Come on, Shot," Bi muttered. "I know you're out there somewhere. Stop being such a dick and rescue me."

"You've got a lot of faith in that man," the middle aged woman said next to her. "Although, I can imagine why."

"He's a good guy, we've been through a lot together," Bi said, hoping that it would be left alone. Beifong seemed to grasp her reticence. "Besides, we've gotten out of worse than this."

"Really?"

"Yup," Bi said, shifting herself into what would look like a more comfortable position. It wasn't. "Spent a couple months in a Dai Li torture camp. That wasn't fun. But when the Fire Nation started pullin' folks from the camp, we found ourselves an opening."

"How many did you kill?" Beifong asked, no judgment in her voice.

"As many as we could reach," Bi said, smiling at the memory. The all-mighty Dai Li, so proud and arrogant, falling to Shot's arrows and the hookswords that she had taken with Jet's dying breath. His last gift to her; his first had been making her feel beautiful. It was a gift she repaid with every slash she made. Of course, it didn't avail her for long. She'd gotten out, but the problem with being a Freedom Fighter was that there was always somebody else who needed to be taken down.

Bi heard a crash against the armored wagon. She gave a glance to the widow Beifong. "Would that be your friend?" the woman asked.

"He's usually a lot more subtle than that," Bi said. Then, the floor of the wagon buckled upward, the metal shrieking. A second impact from below, and the metal parted, scarred hands thrusting through. Those hands tore, and the metal folded away. Bi's eyes went wide. A teenage girl's head popped up, and milky green eyes swept around.

"We've got two in here," she said. She pulled herself up. Beifong looked beside herself.

"Toph?" she asked. The girl stopped dead, about to reach down into the hole. She turned.

"Mom?" the girl Toph asked. She let out a sigh of relief. "It's about godsdamned time! Do you know how many wagons I had to pop before I figured out which one was yours? Figures it had to be just about the last one."

Another set of hands pulled up out of the hole, which Bi was becoming extremely skeptical of. There simply wasn't that much room under one of these things. She knew that for a fact, from the first time she managed to escape from the convoy. She hadn't been out long when she was recaptured, but long enough to leave a message for Shot. And from the look of it, Longshot was the one coming up out of the hole.

"Took you long enough," Bi said. Shot gave her a look which said 'Things took a turn for the weird. I'm compensating'. He set about inexpertly picking the shackles. He was good at a lot of things, but when it came to locks, he was a dum dum. "Are you gonna explain how you got in here?" she asked. 'Long, confusing story,' was his answer.

"Just give me a second," Toph said, and she tore her mother's shackles apart like they were wet paper, and with about as little effort. "You mind telling me why you went and got yourself captured?"

Bi knew that the girl was holding something in. There were a lot of things that she brought with her when she became Smellerbee, and one of them was a keen sense of when somebody was freaking out. It served her quite well, because it let her know if she was doing her job right. She got that distinct impression from the girl with the funky eyes.

"I'm sorry, Toph," Beifong said. "I don't know if you heard, but..."

"Dad's dead," Toph said. There was a moment of silence, punctuated by a bang against the roof of the caravan. "We don't have time to sit around here bitching and bellyaching. We need to move!" Toph's demeanor went from grief to the hard-bitten resolve of a military veteran in an instant. Bi was impressed.

"How'd you even get here?" Bi asked, as the tumbler finally let its clack be heard and the shackles fell from her hands. Toph reached over and tore her leg manacles to shreds, not wanting to waste any more time. Bi just didn't know how to take that. Bending metal was supposed to be impossible, and yet this young woman seemed to do it with contemptuous ease. Longshot gave her a look, which said 'we really should listen to her. She's scary when you piss her off'. "Fine, but we're not done with this."

"Everybody into the hole!" Toph shouted. Beifong went first, dropping out of sight. Bi looked down the hole. "You too, ladies."

"Wow, somebody who didn't have to try twice to guess my gender," Bi muttered. Longshot gave her a look. 'She calls everybody lady. She's blind. Well, blind-ish'. "Really?" 'Do I joke about these things?' "Then how does she...?" 'Just get into the hole, Bi.'

Bi acquiesced, jumping down the hole... and falling for longer than she thought she would. The hole was deeper than a tall man. Her hands fumbled around. In the utter blackness, there was a tunnel. The earthbender above must have built this entire thing underneath the convoy. "How did you do so much so quickly?" Bi asked.

"I'm the greatest earthbender in the world," Toph said, landing behind her. "Tunnels are nothing."

"Kinda hard to see," Bi mentioned.

"Oh, how terrible, surely we shall all perish," Toph said sarcastically. Right. Blind.

"Toph, how did you do this? They must have been able to see you doing it," Beifong said.

"I've got a distraction up top."

"What kind of a distraction?" Bi asked.

"A surprisingly badass one," Toph said, shoving them ahead of her through the blackness. Finally, light began to filter in from an ascending tunnel. Filtering down through the ascent came the sounds of battle. Men screaming. Women screaming. And the sounds of fire. "You're some of the last ones out. When you get out, keep going northeast until you see trees. You too, Mom.

"No," Beifong said. "Today, I stand my ground."

"Damn it, _Mother_!" Toph shouted, conflicting emotion breaking through her voice. "Do I have to lose two parents today?"

"You have your fights," Beifong said. "This one is mine. Do what you came to do. So will I."

Toph stared at her mother for the longest time, before giving an aggravated snort, and turning back into the blackness. "Figures that they call me the blind one," Toph muttered. Bi looked to Longshot, and he gave her a shrug, and a look which there wasn't enough light to decode. He took her hand and began to haul her out of the tunnel.

"So what's the big distraction?" Bi asked. "Did you find some hidden Earth Kingdom army to fight them?"

"No," Shot said. "Just one guy."

"I'd like to see that," Bi laughed. Longshot shrugged, and pointed above the hill that the tunnel ended at, the direction that Beifong was already moving. She moved to follow, but Shot caught her one more time, and she felt something being pressed into her hand. It was one hook sword. 'The other one's trashed', Shot's look said. He handed her a knife for her other hand. It would have to do.

She clambered up over the rise... and her jaw fell open. Standing near the heart of the encampment, surrounded by broken Salamander tanks and battered soldiers was Lee, that guy Jet had lost his mind to obsession over. Lee was firebending like a madman, warding off dozens of attacks at the same time, and lashing out with brutal but seemingly non-lethal strikes against the firebenders... the enemy firebenders, she amended. Looks like Jet was right. Lee _was_ a firebender.

Beifong slid down the steep cliff, her bare feet kicking up stone as she went. A soldier turned toward her, leveling a spear at her descent, but she flicked one hand and arm upward, and a spear of stone lashed forward, pinning the man by his armor to the side of a defunct Salamander. When she reached the bottom, she snapped her hands forward together with a flare, and the stone leapt up, imprisoning the soldier's arms.

Bi ran through the camp, guessing by the looks of the carts which had been broken into and which one's hadn't. It was a mad gamble; hundreds of soldiers were running around, and Lee couldn't possibly handle them all... except he seemed to be doing exactly that. Bi turned as a soldier jumped off the roof of a cart toward her. Before he even crossed half the vertical distance, an arrow impaled his neck, and he landed in a heap in the dirt. Bi didn't need to thank Shot for his aegis. He was always there. Always watching.

Bi wasn't much of anything when her life ended at the age of six. Smellerbee had to learn a lot. Luckily, she had just the right people to teach her. Jet's two weapon style evolved to a three weapon style, her own, one knife always held in reserve, often in the teeth, for when a weapon became lodged somewhere. Ten years of fighting turned her from a child into a machine of war. So when she felt rather than saw the sword thrust aimed at the side of her head, she leaned out of the way, and let the hook of the sword drag the weapon down, then slammed the short knife up through the Fire Nation soldier's jaw. One down.

Ahead, she could see two more. One was readying a bow to take a shot at her. Longshot acted first, his arrow tearing the top off the soldier's bow and rendering it useless. Bi pulled the knife out of its skull and flipped it, before hurling it across the distance. It wedged into the man's shoulder, and he went down with a scream. She scooped up the dropped sword at her feet and began to run. Bi held no illusions of immortality. It would only be a matter of time before one set of red armor would be the last she ever saw. She was tired of war, but there wasn't anything else she was good at. She ran across the distance, her eyes always moving to and fro. Straight shot.

She cleared the distance, and slammed her stolen sword against the lock again and again until the lock broke. She swung her hook sword through the door as it opened, hooking the soldier who had been waiting in ambush inside and slamming him down, so his upper body hung outside the wagon. She moved close. "The keys, or I take them from your corpse," she said. He quickly reached down and handed her the keys which unlocked the manacles. She quickly put them 'twixt her teeth, and slammed the door into the side of this man's head. Just to be sure. She scrambled her way up the line, unlocking feet, then hands. They all poured out of the wagon. This process, she repeated at least three times.

She was getting tired. Between not being able to sleep, the mild beating she'd gotten for running away the second time, or the lack of food, she was in rough shape. Only years of muscle memory kept her moving. At one point, she saw Beifong running across the field, then stopping, and throwing out her arms, and a busted Salamander tipped forward onto a couple of firebenders. Beifong didn't even bat an eyelash, then continued moving. For a dainty-looking lady, she had a lot of stamina. Then again, earthbenders tended to have buckets of it.

"This is endless!" Bi shouted. Then, she heard a whistling rising up from the hills. Her head swiveled and she saw a firework burst in the sky. Blue and green. A retreat signal. After Jet died, Bi and Shot tended to use a lot of his old signals. It served them well. Until recently, anyway. But it would serve her now. "Finally! Make a run for it!"

She scrabbled up the hill, and when she looked back, Lee was still down there, firebending up a storm. "Shouldn't we do something about him?" Beifong asked.

"I'll go get Sparky," Toph said. "Mom, go to that place I mentioned."

'We should go, too' was Longshot's look. Bi looked back down at the conflict below. Despite the carnage, there were still hundreds of soldiers and firebenders moving toward Lee. But in a lull in the combat, Lee paused, his hands before him in almost a gentle stance. "Listen to me! I am Zuko! Son of Ursa and the exiled Prince Iroh! I am the Dark Prince, heir to a stolen throne! Any who side knowingly with Ozai and his treachery, his assassination of Azulon, will meet the same fate as him!"

Bi's mouth fell open. Lee was the Dark Prince? The banished son of the Fire Lord? She just figured he was a war bastard. Wait. Ozai was a usurper? At some point, Bi thought, the world had just run entirely past her. Toph reached Lee... Zuko... and began to do some earthbending, sending a wave of stone through the column. It threw men and machines flying. Shot pulled her toward him. 'Don't just stand there', and he was right. It was time to leave.

She gave one last glance to the Dark Prince below. A Fire Nation firebender, a Fire Nation Prince, working to save civilians of the Earth Kingdoms. She never thought she'd see the day.

* * *

"Where are we this time?" Ty Lee asked. The scene around her was one of monumental stone pillars, reaching up from the baked ground into the sky. Heibai had already walked away, leaving them to their own devices. That seemed to suit Aang perfectly well. She hoped she wasn't expected to remember everything that she saw here today. More than that, she hoped that she wouldn't have to do this all the time. As... _wonderful_... as it was to see her mother, her papa, her sisters one more time, this was all so very very strange.

"The Pillars of Heaven," Aang said. "Or at least, its reflection in the Spirit world. It's said that places like this touch many parts of the world."

"How do you know all this stuff?" Ty Lee asked.

Aang shrugged, dropping into a meditative pose. "I guess I was paying more attention then I thought when they went on about this stuff," Aang said. "Among the Air Nomads, almost anybody who wasn't an airbender was a shaman. If I'd been Avatar longer, I probably would have gotten a real education, instead of..."

Ty Lee looked around. The sky here wasn't golden anymore. It was grey, like a cloudy day. She lowered herself into a pose much like his. She didn't know much about this place, but guessed that his admittedly limited knowledge was better than her utter lack. "Are you meditating?" she asked. Aang was silent, his eyes shut, his fists pressed together. "Is there something I could do to help? Should I be in some sort of stance or something? Should I think about fluffy rabarroos or..."

"Silence would help," Aang said. Ty Lee let out an 'eep', and then became quiet. She waited, but nothing seemed to happen for a while.

"What are you trying to do?" she asked.

"Form the bridge," Aang said, sounding frustrated. "Come on! I've done this before!"

Ty Lee rose, and began walking quietly around him, looking at the stone which surrounded her. She didn't understand. But then again, everybody always said that Ty Lee was always the dumb, pretty one of the sisters Baihu. Since they all looked alike, it was damning with faint praise. It wasn't that she never thought about things... it was just that she always trusted her heart more than her head. Her heart never lead her wrong. Not for long, anyway.

She still thought about Azula. If only she could have done something sooner. If she could have intervened. But when? She could guess; when Azula first vanished, in her thirteenth year. Before then, she had been calculating and too clever for her own good, but after... after she came to find Ty Lee on Kyoshi Island, Azula was a different woman. It took Ty Lee a long time to understand that, to believe it. But now, there could be no doubt. Ozai did something to her when she was thirteen. Something which killed the old Azula, the only woman Ty Lee had ever loved in that way. She had to find a way to bring her back. If Katara could bring Aang back from the dead, could Ty Lee do the same for the old Azula?

As Ty Lee walked, she looked at Aang, her teacher. The Avatar. He'd taken her on what could have been a wild goose-sparrow chase, on the chance that it could make her feel better. He deserved a bigger hug than she could give. She had a hunch, and began to look deeper at him, preparing herself for the splitting headache that accompanied it. For some reason, when she looked at him now, there wasn't that chaotic weave of aura lines and colors and shapes. Maybe it was because they were both in the Spirit world? But following his tattoos from his feet up his back, she could see his chi flowing, pure and strong. She could also see trickles up his arms and down his brow. But at the center of his back, there was an enormous abscess of energy, as though it were trapped with nowhere to go. Ty Lee moved closer, laying her hands on that wound, the scar on his back.

"What are you doing?" Aang asked.

"Just trust me for a second," Ty Lee said. She pulled up his shirt, exposing the scar, and ran her fingers along it, feeling the rough texture of an old burn. At its center, she formed her fingers into hard, blunt needles, and slammed them hard into the wound, a shiatsu massage to release the energy, rather than a Dim Mak strike to block it.

Aang let out the most horrifying scream she'd ever heard in her life. All of the tattoos on his body lit up with blinding white light for just a moment, before fading back down. The abscess shrank for a moment, but quickly returned to its original size and shape. "I'm so sorry I'm so sorry I'm so sorry I'm so sorry," Ty Lee chanted, her eyes wide and her fingers up next to her mouth.

Aang didn't say a word, just panted deeply. He turned to her, sweat upon his brow. "I did it," he said. "I felt the bridge."

"What?" she asked.

Aang swept out his hand, and she saw that a mist had begun to rise in this place, this reflection of the Pillars of Heaven. And in that mist, she began to see forms. Great, hulking, fuzzy white forms. Her eyes went wide again, but this time not from fear. "They know the way back," Aang said, tears leaking from his eyes.

Ty Lee walked through that mist, staring in wonder as the Sky Bison trodded easily, almost lazily, through the pillars, grunting, sometimes bellowing, before dissolving into the mist. But they weren't gone, she knew. They had just moved. One of them, smaller than most of those around, walked directly to her. "Hello big buddy," Ty Lee said, patting this one on the nose. It let out a happy sound, and licked Ty Lee hard enough to knock her back a step. Ty Lee couldn't help but giggle with delight. This one seemed much more energetic than its easy-going kin, the grey arrow on its head a much brighter shade of grey. She turned back to Aang. "What is this?"

"When the Fire Nation destroyed my people, the bison panicked," Aang said, slowly getting to his feet. He looked like he was still getting over the pain, but the smile on his face showed that it was the last thing on his mind. "With so many of their masters dying all at once, the connection they felt to our souls must have seemed like it was shredding to pieces. It must have made them so afraid, that they all knew that they had to run. They escaped the only way they knew how, by retreating into the Spirit world. And now, they're coming back."

"More big fuzzy Appas?" Ty Lee asked. Aang nodded. He looked past her, to the bison which had licked her. "That's great," she said genuinely, and turned to the bison behind her. "Go on, big buddy. Go to the Physical world."

"I think he likes you," Aang said. She was nodding when it licked her again. This time, since she wasn't ready, it knocked her to the ground. It stood over her, nuzzling her with its head. "Ty Lee... I think you've just found your spirit guide."

"But, when we come out, it'll..." Ty Lee said.

"Once it choses its airbender, it will find you," Aang said. "It's just a matter of time and faith."

Ty Lee sighed, and pushed her way out of the big fuzzy creature's nuzzle. "I guess I'll see you soon. Should I name him?" she asked.

"I named Appa," Aang said. Ty Lee smiled.

"See you soon, Basu," she said. It just seemed like the right fit. And before her eyes, Basu dissolved into the murk like all the others. Aang reached her, and laid a hand on her shoulder. "It's time to go, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Aang said. "Close your eyes, and feel your body again. The dust. The heat. The sweat. The tears. Let it all come back to you. Let the flesh return."

Ty Lee did as he ordered. She felt that hollowness in the pit of her stomach, the fatigue of the break-neck trip to this island. She felt the... rage... again. But this time, she knew that there was peace. She opened her eyes, and the dry, blasted plains of Di Huo stretched behind Aang, who was opening his eyes as well. She breathed out, and it came as a sob. Aang laid a hand on her shoulder. "It still hurts," Ty Lee said.

"It will. For a long time, it will," he said. She looked up at him. "But the pain goes away, and in time, all that you'll have left is the happy memories that you shared. The best times."

Ty Lee nodded. "Thank you. For everything."

Aang smiled.

She looked around. "Where's Basu?" she asked.

"He could have appeared anywhere in the world," Aang said. "Have faith and give him a bit of time. He'll find you when the time is right."

Ty Lee rose, picking up her glider staff, and snapped it open. She turned back to her teacher, but found that he'd risen, staring to the east. "We should head home."

"Right," Aang said, staring hard at the horizon.

"What is it?"

"Do you hear... chanting?" Aang asked.

"No, why?" Ty Lee responded. Aang stared for a moment more, then picked up his own glider.

"Never mind. You're right. It's time we head home. The people we love are waiting."

* * *

Zuko was exhausted, battered, a bit bloody, but when he looked over the group of people who'd gathered in this part of the Great Divide, he never felt better. Every time he used his firebending, ever since he learned the truth from Ran and Shao, he felt not rage or anger, but... almost joy. And now, he could finally use it to make people's lives better. Having to use it against his countrymen hurt, but with the level of control he now possessed, putting people down with his fire without seriously harming them wasn't just possible, but laughably easy.

"I have to say, if I hadn't been forewarned, I would have never believed it," Poppy Beifong said, drinking some water from a skin. "The Dark Prince and the Avatar. What a combination."

"I know," Zuko admitted, as the odd looking girl Smellerbee pulled the bandages tight over his shoulder. Katara would be able to heal that up quickly, but until then, every breeze against it was most exquisite agony. "I would have never guessed it either. But I have a destiny, and I have to walk it wherever it takes me. For once, I think it's taking me somewhere good."

"Yeah, you and your big destiny," Toph muttered. "What were you thinking, Mom? Fighting the Fire Nation? For Shr-Wa? Were you out of your mind? Just let them have it! There's nothing there worth fighting for!"

"There were the people," Poppy said. "I would have given them what they wanted, but... Lao wouldn't have it. He would rather die than lose his most valuable treasure."

"He got all those people, and himself, killed over some gold?" Toph said, disgusted even in her grief. Zuko only knew it was there because he knew something about Toph's baseline. This wasn't it. Poppy shook her head.

"No. Me," Poppy said. She stared at the others. Smellerbee, done of her ministrations, left to go to Longshot's side, near another cluster of people. "I belong to a group of people, one which is... in jeopardy. A former member of the organization has begun hunting us down. I'm sure you know of him, Prince Zuko. His name is Jeong Jeong," Poppy said. Zuko's eyes went wide.

"He's one of you?"

"Was, once," Poppy said. "When he grew fell, he was cast out. Very few have ever been cast out of the Order, always for the most heinous of violations. Only that Waterbender from the South has been forsaken in the last two decades," Poppy wiped a hand across her pale brow. "How Jeong Jeong learned I was a member, I have no idea."

"Well, that's all fine and dandy, but how did..."

"He refused them entrance into our house, even knowing what it would cost him," Poppy said. "You need to know that he loved you, Toph. Even if he didn't know the right way to show it."

"Right," Toph said bitterly. "And now he'll never find out."

"We need to go," Poppy said. "I need to get these people some place that's safe."

"We could..." Zuko began to offer, but Poppy waved him back, gently.

"No, this is my task," she said. "I couldn't protect them before. I'll protect them now. Besides, you and I will meet again soon. I just have that feeling."

"Great," Toph said gloomily. Poppy rose, and stared down at her daughter.

"There is one more thing," Poppy said. She laid a hand on Toph's shoulder. "I've been thinking about what you said, back in Ba Sing Se. Really thinking about it. When Lao died, I made sure that everything he had was given to me," Poppy's eyes didn't grow hard nor her intonations cruel as she continued. "From this moment forward, you are stricken from my will. You have no more access to the Beifong family accounts, you are forbidden using our lines of credit, and the next time you use your passport, it will probably be torn up."

Toph looked up at her mother, tears beginning to form in her eyes. Zuko rose to his feet, choice and angry words forming in his mind, but the girl shocked him by rushing forward and giving her mother a tight hug. "I can't believe you'd do that for me," Toph said. Her tone was... grateful.

"If anybody can take care of herself in this world, it's you, my little flower," Poppy said. "So earn it."

Toph smiled through tears, giving her mother a squeeze. "Thank you. For believing in me."

"I'll never doubt you again, Toph," Poppy said. She looked to Zuko. "Don't let her give you too much trouble."

"Like I could stop her," Zuko said, a bit baffled at what the mother had said, and the daughter's reaction to it. Poppy went to the other camp. Smellerbee was watching him. When his eyes met hers, she gave him a curt nod. He expected her to try to kill him when she figured out he was Fire Nation. But instead, there was just that... calm respect. An enemy of an enemy. He didn't know exactly what happened to her to drive her into Jet's company, but he could guess, and it wasn't pleasant. She had rights to rage.

"We should go," Zuko said. "We've done all we can here."

"Mom really loves me," Toph said, a distant smile on her face. Zuko couldn't help but smile too.

* * *

Aang walked through the absent front door of the beach house, seeing Mai sitting in a chair at the far end of the room. She was drawing one of her knives against a whetstone slowly and steadily. She glanced up, recognized Aang and Ty Lee's entrance, then looked back down to her weapons. "You're back," she said flatly.

Ty Lee walked a bit closer. "My family is gone," she said simply, and still a bit sadly. Mai looked up, her sharpening ceased. A genuine look of sadness crossed the other woman's face.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I heard rumors, but I hoped that they were wrong."

"It's alright," Ty Lee answered, her eyes still downcast. "At least I got a chance to say goodbye."

Mai cast a confused glance to Aang. "It's an Avatar thing."

Mai nodded, seemingly mollified. "If you need to talk about it," Mai said, but when Ty Lee looked back up, she'd brightened a little bit.

"And I got a new Sky Bison to be my spirit guide! Only I don't have any idea where it is," she said, her tones puzzled at the end.

Mai stared at her old friend. "How do you possibly lose a sky bison?" she asked. She then looked to Aang. "Let me guess. It's an Avatar thing?" Aang nodded. Mai sighed, then went back to sharpening her knife. Sokka came down the stairs at a run, beaming a grin at Ty Lee when he saw her.

"There you are! I was wondering if you were ever going to – ooof..." Sokka said, but was cut off when Ty Lee tackled into him with one of her signature, rib creaking hugs. "You're crushing me..."

Aang gave another look at Mai. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Waiting for my husband to get home," Mai said simply, and with a great deal of control.

"And what's the knife for?" Aang asked. Mai glanced up at him, pausing in her sharpening for a long moment. Then, she turned back to her knife, and the sharpening continued. "Right. Have fun with that."

"One of us will," Mai answered.

Aang left the woman behind, heading up to the second floor and to the room that he and Katara shared. Well, more or less, since they hadn't actually slept in it together, yet. He knocked on the door, and then slid it open. She was staring out at the ocean. He walked up beside her, not a word crossing his lips. She glanced up at him, the sunset glinting off of those impossibly blue eyes. Then, she turned back, and rested her head on his shoulder. He couldn't have asked for better.

But he could still hear those words as he stared across the sea, tickling at his consciousness, hammering away like the war drums of an army hiding in the fog. Constant, unrelenting, and unending. The chant which followed with him everywhere he went. Even with Katara beside him, all the distraction he could ever ask for, he could still hear it.

_Na mo a mi tuo fu xin nei_

_Na mo a mi tuo fu xin nei._

* * *

_The Countdown to the Comet begins._

_Leave a review._


	18. Sozin's Comet: Deadline

**A few points of definition.**

**Kavi: the saffron-dyed clothes of a monk, specifically, the shirt like thing Aang wore in seasons 1 and 2.**

**Basu: The name means "brightness". Did you really think that Ty Lee would name it anything else?**

**It occurs to me that Ozai might be the most heinous character I've ever written. Between this, and what he says during Pillars of Heaven, he paints a portrait of a classic sadist. Makes me not feel bad for what happens to him. Everybody around him? Feel bad. Remember what Toph complained about in canon? Well, this time, Zuko _does _get a life-changing field trip, only you don't see how until the end, and it's not with Toph.**

**And Ty Lee didn't heal Aang's injury. She just loosened it up for a moment. Shiatsu isn't a panacea. I wanted her to do that for the entire third season, I just couldn't find the perfect moment to do it until right near the very end. Finally, Zuko does name his dragon... in this chapter, in fact. ****Ty Lee helped.**

**Also, changed Ch5 a bit because I forgot to mention something then that comes up again now.**

* * *

Azula glanced around the bath chamber. She'd sent everybody away, even the Dai Li who were supposed to follow her at all times in the palace. She needed to be alone. She didn't know why, but she didn't want anybody seeing her. No, there was a reason. She had failed. She wasn't supposed to fail. It wasn't allowed. She had to be _perfect_! Anything less wasn't good enough! In the silence, her hands peeled the clothing off and let it lie in piles before the high-sided tub.

This wasn't the homecoming that she wanted. She wanted to return flush with victory, an only child and beloved of her father. Instead, she returned... hollow. She lowered her naked body into the tub, letting the heat of the water suffuse her. Her hands ran over her body, feeling the old bruises that had almost faded. Zuko's bruises. How he could stand against her even for a moment was worrisome. He was supposed to be the idiot child, the failure. She was supposed to be the paragon, the prodigy.

She lay, thinking of how things started to go wrong. It wasn't when Ty Lee betrayed her, broke her heart. No, it was earlier. She should have seen it coming. She was smarter than that. It started with the war meeting, a week before the Day of Black Sun. She turned it over in her mind, trying to see what she had missed before. She was brilliant, and everybody said so. If she couldn't make sense of the senseless, then she was no better than any simpering concubine.

Deng was of course pontificating when Zuko finally arrived. He was spending an inordinate amount of time with Mai, but then again, Mai seemed in an unusually good mood as a result of it, so it didn't matter to Azula very much. "Ba Sing Se remains under Fire Nation control, but our armies are stretched too thin. Earthbender rebellions have prevented total victory in the Earth Kingdoms and subjugation of the East Continent."

Father leaned forward, running fingers down his jet black strand of beard. "What is your recommendation?" he asked.

"We need to transfer more domestic forces into the field," Deng said. "Once the invasion that your daughter informed will come on the day of the eclipse is dealt with and its force crushed, there will be nothing standing in the way of total mobilization."

Father scowled for a moment, then turned to Zuko, sitting opposite Azula. "You have traveled amongst those people. What is your impression of them?" Father asked.

Zuko frowned for a moment, thinking. When he spoke, it was quietly. "The people of the Earth Kingdoms are diverse and enduring," he said. "They're able to withstand anything, and come back from the brink no matter what. As long as they have hope, I doubt they'll ever fully bow down to you."

You. Not us.

Azula hadn't noticed at the time. Father looked pensive, and Azula had a flippant smirk stretch across her face. "Perhaps you should just take their precious _hope_ and all of their land and burn it all to the ground," Azula said, intending only a barb against Zuko and his soft, loving ways. But Father turned to her, a smile on his face.

"Yes, I think you're right, Azula," Father said, the smile on his face dark and dangerous. "We need to destroy their hope."

"I didn't mean..." Azula said, unsure what he meant. Zuko stared at her, eyes wide, as though in horror. Fitting. Everybody else thought she was a monster. Now he did too.

Unless there was something else going on in his mind...

Father rose from his place on the dais and descended to the great map stretched across the table before his generals and admirals. "Sozin's Comet comes in two months time. And when it arrives, it will endow our people with the might of a hundred suns. When it comes, no bender or army or even the Avatar Himself could stand against us," Ozai began to walk across the map. As he moved, the paper began to curl and burn. Deng had an almost gleeful look on his aged face.

"What are you suggesting, Fire Lord?" he asked.

"When last the Comet came," Father said, the smoke from the burning map of the Northern Earth Kingdoms rising up behind him, "Sozin used it to destroy the Air Nomads. He was thinking too small, and he didn't have the resources that I have. From our airships, we will rain down fire upon the world," he pointed at the map as it burned. "First, north through the Heel of Ru Nan," pointing again, "Then, across the North Pole, breaking the Water Tribes forever," as he walked, the fire followed him, destroying the map as he walked. "Then south, back across the Eastern Earth Kingdoms, and sweeping across Great Whales."

"But we are at peace with Great Whales," Deng said. Father shot him a glare. The entire map under his feet was in flames. It licked at his robes, but even the fire didn't dare catch upon him.

"They are just waiting for a chance to stab us in the back," Azula said from her seat beside Father's dais. "Better we strike them before they strike us."

"Exactly," Ozai said. "This world will die in fire, and out of the ashes, a new world will be born. A world where all lands are Fire Nation, and I rule _everything_!"

If Azula had been paying better attention, she would have noticed. That horrified reaction Zuko had. That anger, even under the disgust and horror. She should have known Zuzu was going to betray them all. She should have known.

Then why hadn't she?

Azula ran her hands over her bathing body, trying to make sure she didn't leave any soot or sweat to befoul her. Even if she could never be perfect, no matter how hard she tried, she could at least look perfect. She had to. So much was expected of her. And she couldn't let Father down. He was the only one who could ever love her.

Is he? Did he love you at all?

Azula's mind came to a screeching halt for a moment. Where had that thought come from? Her fingers ran over bumps on her chest. Scars? How did she have scars? She didn't remember ever being hurt. She sat up in her bath, her questing fingers running over her body. She found similar scars all over her back, even behind her ears and on the back of her neck. There were even hard pale lines running down and around her forearms, which were usually covered by her bracers. Where had they come from? _How could she not have noticed them_?

Azula decided it didn't matter. Perhaps it was a trick of the senses. Like that voice, taunting her and demeaning her. Always telling her that she was a failure, that she would never be good enough. That she would die alone and unloved. Hated. Yes. It was a trick. She had to get moving again. She couldn't keep thinking. Thinking was driving her mad. She swore long ago that she wouldn't fall to madness, that her mind would be cherished. She had to be better. Do better.

Azula rose, and stood out of the bath. She glanced around, waiting for somebody to robe her, but she remembered that she sent everybody away. Nobody attended her. Not even the Dai Li. She quickly moved to the side of the room, pulling a robe over her dripping body. She wasn't sure why she suddenly felt self conscious. She was beautiful, smooth unblemished skin, shining gold eyes, lustrous black hair... and scars that she had no recollection of. No. Not scars. Figments of her imagination. She heard the door open to the room, and she turned, ready to scream at whoever dared come before her without her permission. But when her eyes fell upon father, his long hair hanging down past his shoulders and his eyes locked on her, she quickly fell to her knees.

"Father, I was going to come to see you," Azula said, her eyes down on the floor.

"Zuko is alive?" Father asked. Azula shook on the floor.

"Yes..." she said quietly.

"Then you have failed me," Father said.

"I will try again," Azula said, getting to her feet. "Just give me another chance!"

"Why?" Father asked, moving toward her. Where was the Phoenix Flare? It was supposed to rest in his phoenix tail at all times. But he didn't even have that. "So you can bungle it again? No, there are more important things to deal with than your bastard half-brother," Father dismissed Zuko completely. "There has been a change in plans."

"What do you mean?" Azula asked. Father stopped, standing before her.

"I will be taking the airship fleet to destroy the Earth Kingdoms, the Water Tribe, and Great Whales on my own," Father said. Azula felt cold spread through her body.

"But... it was my plan," Azula said, her words sounding hollow in her ears. "I deserve to be with you!"

"Silence yourself!" Father snapped. She shrunk back a bit. "You have... another duty to preform. One that will leave you here in the Fire Nation."

"But it was my idea to burn everything to the ground," Azula said, her tone getting away from her. "You can't treat me like this! You can't treat me like _Zuko_!"

Father silenced her by stepping forward, and reaching his hand forward. It slid through the folds of her robe, digging hard and painfully into her pudendum. Her eyes went wide with shock and surprise... and no small bit of childlike terror. Ozai stared down at her. "You are the only one that I can... trust," Ozai said, "so you must remain here and look to the affairs of the homeland."

This isn't the way a father acts.

But he's the only one who can ever love me.

Not like this.

"I...I...I..." Azula stammered, eyes wide with fear. His fingers dug harder into her sex.

"This is a task that I can only entrust to you, my... darling daughter," Ozai said. "And for your loyalty, I've decided to name you Fire Lord, effective immediately," his grin was cruel, sadistic. She couldn't do anything but stare back, too terrified to move. "But as for me, I am Fire Lord no longer. Fire Lord Ozai will die as the world dies. And as it is reborn, so shall I be. As Phoenix King Ozai. Supreme ruler of the world."

Ozai finally released his painful grasp of her sensitive groin, and her knees lost all their strength, making her tumble to the floor. He knelt down beside her, a smirk on his face. He ran fingers along the side of her cheek, tracing the line of a tear of pain that she'd released. "I know that I can trust you completely. And it's a good thing, too," Ozai said. "It's not like _anybody __else_ will ever trust you."

Azula couldn't watch as Ozai walked away, his footfalls clattering against the obsidian floors. She pulled into herself, as though trying to protect herself from somebody beating her. But he was already gone.

He doesn't love you. He never did.

The voice rattled in her mind, and she felt too weak to fight it. It burned at her that she would be so useless. She was Azula, the Crown Princess! No, she wasn't even that anymore. He'd named her the Fire Lord. She was the most powerful person in the Western World. So why did she huddle on the floor like a wounded turtle-duck?

Because you know you're wrong. Ozai never loved you.

But then who else possibly could? He was the only one who ever showed her support, who gave any attention to her, to ever give her motivation to be the greatest. Not like Mother, who had no time for anything but Zuko.

Really? Or is that just what he wanted you to believe?

Azula knew she couldn't waste time arguing with voices in her head. She was the Fire Lord. She had a nation to rule. She got back up to her feet. Her groin still hurt from the brutal treatment it had received... from her _father_... but she forced herself to start walking. If Father never loved her, then nobody did. Not anybody in her entire life. She worked that notion over in her head. If nobody ever loved her, _could_ ever love her...

Then everybody was trying to harm her.

* * *

Zuko had been dead sure that Mai was going to murder him. Of course, the way that he'd left, and the admittedly thin excuses that he'd been able to offer when he got back didn't help him. She just stared at him, those grey eyes waiting for him to stumble over his last word, her hands never faltering as they pulled whetstone across an already razor sharp edge. When he finally ran out of words, and had all of his wounds to show for it, she rose up, walked in front of him, and smirked.

"Now don't do it again," she'd said before throwing the knife into a supporting beam and walking away. She was good at this. Making him do all of his own punishing out of sheer fear. He wondered if it was normal to be at least a little bit afraid of his wife? He knew Ozai wasn't. Ozai didn't fear anybody. Probably Zuko's way was for the better.

Katara had healed his wounds, which was for the best. He knew he was running out of time, and he couldn't go into the last battle wounded. In his mind, he silently clicked down the days. And the number became very, very small. When it became small enough to count on two hands, he knew something was wrong, but he didn't say anything. Mai could sense his growing unease, and she could understand it. She knew just as well as he did what was going to happen.

But the beach party? That just tore it. He stared at the others, teenagers as little as a year younger than he was, with shock and dismay on his face. They were lazing around on the beach, chatting about pointless things. Toph was proudly showing off her sandbending, which seemed to impress Aang quite a bit. And Sokka was building what had to be the least impressive sand sculpture that Zuko had ever seen. There was no training. There was no strategizing. Just wasting time, time that was going to very shortly run out.

"Hey, Zuko, look at my sculpture!" Sokka said. Zuko turned to it. He hadn't the slightest clue what it was supposed to be. "It's Ty Lee!" he cheerfully declared. Maybe on cactus juice, it was. Zuko muttered a profanity under his breath, then turned to the sandy thing, and cast a fire-blast at it. The sculpture exploded into grit; he'd made sure it wasn't hot enough to turn the sand to glass. Sokka stared, horrified, that his 'art' would be destroyed. All eyes turned to him.

"While I appreciate removing an artistic disgrace, I've gotta ask why you did that," Toph said, patting some sand off her scarred hands.

"What the hell is wrong with you people?" Zuko shouted, pulling at his hair. "Sozin's Comet is going to be here in a little over a week, and you're just sitting around the beach, doing nothing? Have you lost your damned minds?"

The people assembled all shared guilty glances. He knew he shouldn't be shouting at Ty Lee, not after she lost her parents so recently, but he knew what was at stake. Mai, his consistent shadow, appeared next to him. "That's the thing," Katara said. "We've decided that we're not going to face the Fire Lord until after the Comet is gone."

"After?" Zuko shouted. Mai scowled.

"I'm not ready," Aang said quietly. "You've said yourself that my firebending is only mediocre, and I need more time to get better."

"And come to think of it, your earthbending could use a lot of work, too," Toph pointed out. Aang gave a stung look, but didn't contradict the blind metalbender.

Zuko stared at them, agog. "So... you were all just going to wait? And you didn't tell me?"

"Why would we?" Sokka asked, still trying to reconstitute his scattered sculpture. "If Aang fights the Fire Lord now, he's gonna lose. No offense," Aang didn't seem offended.

"Besides, the whole reason we wanted to beat the Fire Lord before the Comet got here was so he couldn't take over the world," Ty Lee added. "But he pretty much already has. What's left for him to take over?"

"Great Whales," Katara pointed out.

"Oh, yeah. I keep forgetting about them," Ty Lee mused. "But besides that, it's not like it can get much worse."

"You have no idea," Mai said. "Things are about to get worse than you can imagine."

"What do you mean?" Katara asked.

"Ozai intends to use the Comet's power to burn down... well... just about everything," Mai said, her tones colder than usual.

"But how could he even do that?" Aang asked. "The Comet lasts what, a couple of hours?"

"Four days," Zuko said. "It will be in the sky for four days, and as long as its red light reaches us, the weakest firebender in the world would be able to face Azula on equal footing... if Azula weren't even more powerful than that," everybody went pale at that. They didn't know, and they wouldn't. The particulars of Sozin's Comet were kept secret from just about everybody. "With the airship fleet, he'll be able to burn down most of the Earth Kingdoms, melt the Capital of the North, and reduce Great Whales to ashes with enough time left over to stop and have tea."

Aang was agape. "Why didn't you tell us this?" he shouted.

"Because I thought you were going to deal with him before the Comet!" Zuko answered, just as loudly. Sokka shook his head, sitting on the mound of sand that he claimed used to be Ty Lee.

"This is... I always knew Ozai was a bad guy, but this plan is just _evil_," Sokka said.

"You're going to have to do something about this soon," Mai said, grimly. "Because if you don't, there won't be a world left to save."

"This is bad. This is _really_ bad," Aang said, walking away and clutching his head. Katara moved to his side, pulling his shoulders to face her.

"You don't need to do this alone, Aang," she said. "We're all going to fight beside you."

"To one degree or another," Mai muttered.

"That's right!" Sokka said. "With all of us fighting together, we just might have a shot at this! Team Avatar rides again!" he raised a victorious fist. "Air!" he waved toward Aang and Ty Lee. "Water!" his sister. "Earth!" to Toph. "Fire!" at Zuko. "Sword and knife!" Sokka draped an arm over Mai's shoulder. Her glare seemed to roll right off of him.

"This will probably be the hardest thing we've ever done together, but I wouldn't have it any other way," Aang said. Zuko watched as they all moved together, into a group embrace. After a moment, Aang waved Zuko and Mai over.

"Come on, you two," Katara said. "Being part of the group means being part of group hugs."

"No," Mai said. Zuko gave her a look. "_Fine_."

While Mai clearly wasn't comfortable hugging people, with Ty Lee on one side and Zuko on the other, she was willing enough. It was strange the family that they had become, in so short a time. Some of them in a literal sense; If somebody told Zuko this time last year that he would have purpose, destiny, and be married to the love of his life, he would have called them an idiot, tried to blow them up with firebending, and failed, because this time last year, he'd lost his firebending to melancholy. The group hug ended when Momo landed on Aang's shoulder and began chattering loudly, breaking the spell of the group.

"We should get back to training," Zuko said to the Avatar. "We don't have much time left, and we're going to have to use it wisely if we're to have any chance of pulling this off."

"I know what you mean," Aang said. He paused, looking at Zuko's neck. "Have you come up with a name for it yet?"

Zuko looked down, and the tiny dragon turned back up to look at him as well. "Not really," Zuko said. "What do you call a dragon, anyway?"

"Chong Sheng," Ty Lee said, a big smile on her face.

"Excuse me?"

"It's appropriate," Aang agreed. "I mean, how often does something like that happen?"

Chong Sheng. Rebirth. Zuko had to agree with that. "Alright. You know the rudiments, you've got some of the Sun Warriors' moves down, and you're doing alright with the redirecting lightning Kata. So we work the basics," Zuko said.

"But what about things like the fire-bomb or the double whip, or fire catch?" Aang asked.

"Basics!" Zuko stressed. "Trust me. It pays out in the end."

"Here's hoping the end doesn't happen too soon," Sokka gave an aside to Aang. Aang deflated at that, before beginning to flow through the firebending Katas. Time was running out. All they had at this point was hope. Hope, an exiled prince, a few traitors, a lunatic Tribesman, a half-crippled Avatar, the world's only metalbender, and the most powerful waterbender on the planet. And somehow, they were going to win.

* * *

Aang was exhausted. While he knew that Zuko's heart was in the right place, he could only learn so fast. It was a solid relief that he wasn't the frail, weak boy who had tumbled out of the iceberg three years ago. That Aang would have ended the training session, limped into the beach house, and then _dropped dead_. Toph was nothing but right; stamina was extremely important. Aang picked at his dinner, watching as the other talked nearby. He didn't like the things they weren't talking about. Everybody skated around the issue like Pakku's best students, but he knew; they were all depending on him, and him alone, to deliver the crushing blow to Ozai and end the war.

And Aang wasn't sure that he could.

It wouldn't be the first time that his powers took a life. He only had to think back to the Siege of the North to know that. But that was something done in a lunatic rage, so full of fury that the Avatar State ignited without his even meaning it to. Since then, he swore never to use his powers to extinguish life again. But what was going to happen when he faced Ozai? Katara came into the darkened plaza, a mischievous smile on her face.

"Guess wha-a-a-t?" she said.

"Hah! I knew you knocked boots with Haru!" Toph said. Everybody scowled at her for a moment, Aang hardest of all. She hadn't 'knocked boots' with _anybody_ before that morning on the beach. He'd felt the proof. She went back to eating her food, content with the crap she'd stirred.

"...no." Katara said. Her smile returned, and she flopped open a scroll. "I was rummaging around and I found this! Look at baby Zuko! Isn't he so cute?"

The chubby baby stared off of the page, a delighted look on his face. Zuko was shaking his head though. "That isn't Zuko," Mai said, giving the page only the slightest glance before turning her attention away.

"But..."

"That's Ozai," Zuko said quietly. Silence descended on the group.

"But he looks so... innocent," Sokka said, baffled.

"That innocent little boy turned out to be one of the greatest villains of our time," Mai said, her tone unusual, and almost unreadable.

"And one of the worst fathers in the history of fatherhood," Zuko added.

"That might be," Aang said. "But he's still a human being and needs to be given a chance to end this peacefully."

"I can't believe you'd defend him," Zuko said, an edge of anger entering his voice.

"Yeah! You know what he did to Azula, what he turned her into!" Ty Lee joined, but Aang could silence _her_, at least, with the look on his face.

"**Nevertheless**," Aang said. "As long as there's life, there's hope. Ozai might be a horrible person and the world would be better off without him, but I am not going to assassinate him, and neither should any of us. There must be another way!"

"Like what?" Zuko asked. "Glue his arms and legs together and show him pictures of his happy childhood until he snaps out of being evil? It won't work. Some people are just bad."

"If I believed that about you, then I would have left you to die on the ice flows of the North!" Aang shouted. "Good and evil aren't in the blood, Zuko! Everybody deserves a chance at redemption! Everybody! You don't _get_ this! I'm the Avatar, I can't just go around wiping out everybody who opposes me."

"Sure you can," Sokka said easily. "As long as you're doing it in the name of balance and peace, then I'm sure the universe will look the other way just this once."

"This isn't a joke, Sokka!" Aang raged. "None of you understands the position that I'm in! And you just keep putting more and more pressure onto me!"

"Aang, we..." Katara began, but Aang just kept on going.

"I swore a long time ago that I wouldn't be a destructive influence on this world," Aang said. "If I break that oath, then I'll be no better than Sozin. And no, Sokka, I know that history might see me as a hero, but how will I be able to live with myself knowing what I did?"

"We're just trying to help," Katara said, sadly.

"Then, when you come up with a way which can bring down the Fire Lord without ending his life, I'd love to hear it. But you don't have one, do you? It always falls to me! Always the Avatar. You don't understand. None of you do. And none of you ever will," Aang finished, before turning to walk away. Katara moved to intercept him, but Zuko cleared his throat.

"Just let him go," Zuko said. Aang didn't turn to thank his firebending master. He was too angry. If he turned, it would be to say something with rash intention and dire consequence. He just stormed up through the house, to the room that he and Katara shared. She was a comfort to him, more so now that the questions he had surrounding their union on the beach had been answered somewhat. But he still wanted more. He was supposed to be a simple monk, but he had needs, beyond those just of his body. He needed to know that she'd be there. In a way, he envied Zuko.

Aang dropped into a meditative stance, even though he knew that he wouldn't be able to get much proper meditation done. As much as he was angry, he was also distracted. After a few minutes, he heard chirping coming from the rail of the balcony. He opened his eyes. Momo was scampering down to sit in front of him.

"I don't suppose you've got some brilliant scheme?" Aang asked. Momo chattered in a tone almost regretful. "I didn't think so," Momo crawled up into Aang's lap, and he closed his eyes again. He listened. And he heard that chant, still clear as when he first heard it next to the Sea of Souls.

_Na mo a mi tuo fu xin nei_

It followed him, every waking moment. It seemed to call to him, and him alone. Nobody else ever heard it. He evened his breathing, letting his long practice of meditation quiet his angry heart. Momo made a gentle noise, before settling its head down, his ears flopping over Aang's knee. Aang breathed in.

_Na mo a mi tuo fu xin nei_

_Na mo a mi tuo fu xin nei_

It wasn't just a chant. It was a call. Something was waiting. For Aang. Something old. Older than time itself. Its voice echoed across the barriers separating the real from the absurd. Its will rattled the very foundations of what existed. It called. Aang shifted in his stance without even thinking about it, from the meditative pose of the Air Nomads, to the singular stance of the Avatar, soles of his feet together, knuckles pressed, his arrow tattoos aligned, the paths of his chi flowing.

_Na mo a mi tuo fu xin nei_

Aang felt a pulling. Almost like something was warping around him. The warm breeze of the night on Lesser Ember vanished. The cawing of toucans faded away. The only constants were himself, and the feel of Momo on his lap. Silence filled everything. Aang opened his eyes. There was nothing. Not light nor darkness, not ground nor sky. And this didn't frighten him. This state lasted only a moment, then sounds began again, but not toucans. Sensation began again, but not the warm breeze of the Lesser Ember night.

He stood, looking around, up at the golden sky. "How is this possible?" Aang asked. He took a step, and Momo let out a panicked screech since Aang almost stepped on him. "Wait, that makes no sense!"

Momo scampered up Aang's body and rested on his shoulder, his large eyes staring around. "If I'm in the Spirit world, how can you see me? How can you touch me?" Aang asked. Unless they weren't really... Aang turned, and did a basic fire-punch. Nothing happened. When he inspected himself, he was wearing exactly the same thing he was a moment ago. Right down to the sauce-stain near the bottom of the shirt. "Alright. Definitely in the Spirit world. But what is this place?"

Momo chattered nervously. "I don't know either. I've never heard of a place that looked like this," Aang said. It looked like a forest, but the trees were made of stone and metal. Flashes of brilliant light shot up the trunks every now and then, and arced from branch to branch, and from tree to tree. "It doesn't look very friendly, though," Momo chirped briefly, huddling closer to Aang. "I know you can't talk. I just like to pretend you can," Aang said. Momo gave a rattle of chirps and chatters, which sounded almost sarcastic. Aang turned to the lemur. "You know, you can be downright unkind, sometimes."

Aang looked around. "At least the chanting stopped." He began to walk, but with every step, he felt a tingle run up his foot and leg. It was like tiny electric bolts moved through the ground. Wherever he was was a strange place. And just to vex him further, when he made his comment about the chanting, it began again... but it wasn't the same chant.

_Jie di jie di bo luo jie di bo luo seng jie di pu ti sa po he_.

Aang turned toward the sound. Whereas the other was a call, this one was a plea. It didn't demand. It begged. Aang turned to Momo, perched on his shoulder. The creature pointed. Aang raised an eyebrow. Why did Momo seem to want to go toward the chanting? "You and I are going to have a long chat, one of these days." Momo chattered smugly in response.

* * *

"Has anybody seen Aang?" Katara asked, upon going up to their room and finding it empty. She wasn't usually one to panic, but Aang had been in a terrible mood when he departed. While he was the Avatar, and a good man besides, he was still sometimes prone to... childishness. His flight from Pohuai was proof of that. All eyes turned to her.

"What do you mean?" Sokka asked. He was in the process of trying to give Toph a noogie, and the earthbender violently rebuffed him during his hesitation. He got back up, dusting himself off as though no harm was done. Knowing his resilience, possibly none was.

"I just went up to my room, and he's not there," Katara said. Mai rolled her eyes, but Zuko frowned.

"What do you mean, he isn't there?" Zuko asked. "Where could he have gone? Appa's right here!"

"He left his glider, too," Katara said, setting the rod against the wall. Everybody had a concerned look, then all eyes went to Ty Lee. She glanced around, confused.

"Why are you all looking at me?" she asked.

"The last time he vanished suddenly and without a trace, it was to take you on a little spirit world journey," Katara said. Sokka snapped his fingers.

"That's it!" he said. "The Avatar freaks out, then vanishes before a monumental struggle? He's got to be on _his own_ spirit journey!"

"Wouldn't he leave his body behind?" Zuko asked. Sokka wilted.

"Oh yeah," Sokka said. "I forgot about that."

"He couldn't have gotten far," Mai said, as though annoyed that she had to be the voice of reason. "He's got no way of flying, and Lesser Ember is about as big as the Royal Palace in Sozin City. It shouldn't take long to find him unless he decided to swim to another island."

"And who would do that when there's a perfectly good Appa?" Ty Lee asked. Mai gave the airbender a polite smile.

"Fine. We split up and search for Aang," Katara said. "Sokka, take Appa and search high. Ty Lee, help him. Everybody else canvasses the town, the forest, and the beaches."

"I guess that means you're with me," Mai said, a small smile on her face, as she took her husband's arm. Everybody gave her a look. "Everybody else gets an life altering field trip with my husband. I figure it must be my turn."

"There's no need for sarcasm," Zuko said. Mai chuckled at that.

* * *

Sokka landed Appa on the beach next to the run-down pier, where everybody else had gathered. He was the last to come in, because he'd also done a sweep of the surrounding waters, on the off chance that Aang went swimming and got lost or something. However unlikely it was; Aang didn't leave one footprint outside of his room that Sokka could find, and contrary to popular belief, he was actually pretty good at tracking things.

"I take it from the looks of you all that you didn't find Aang?" Sokka asked.

"All we found out was that The Last Airbender is somehow making money," Katara muttered.

"At least they got a new actress to play you," Ty Lee added. "This one isn't as good, but at least she looks more like you instead of..."

"I couldn't find squat," Toph interrupted.

"We were looking for someone?" Mai asked. Zuko looked a bit stunned.

"We... got distracted," he admitted. Not with shame. More with... shell shock?

Toph started laughing at Zuko, probably thinking that they'd exposed a liason, but Sokka slid off of Appa's head, beginning to pace. His plans hadn't been working out recently, but when he improvised, things sort of worked themselves out. Still, he hated having to depend on chance. Chance was not a kind mistress to Sokka. He pondered how he was going to locate a wayward Avatar. Zuko always managed to, back when they were on their way to the North Pole. It was like no matter where they went, Zuko was always one step... Zuko. Of course!

"Zuko, we need you to get your head in the game," Sokka said. Zuko, still distant against Toph's unending laughter, turned to Sokka.

"What?"

"You've got seniority in finding Aang," Sokka said. "If anybody can find out where he went on this planet, it'd be you."

"You did chase us for over a year," Katara said. Zuko frowned, his fugue finally dead as his mind went to things other than whatever it was which had seized his brain.

"I have an idea," Zuko said. He hopped up onto Appa's head, and motioned toward the saddle. "Come on. Pack up everything you want to bring with you; I don't think we're coming back."

"Where are we going?" Ty Lee asked.

"East. If you need to use the bathroom, do it now. This'll be faster if we fly straight there."

Sokka couldn't guess what Zuko meant, but after only a few minutes of preparation, the beast flew through the air, away from the setting moon. At first, Appa flew over the islands of the Ember Archipelago, but as their journey continued, the islands continued to the north, and unending seas stretched before them. Conversations in the saddle were brief and dispirited. Finally, Sokka leaned forward over the horn.

"So why exactly are we flying toward the East Continent?"

"It's a little hard to explain," Zuko said. "But it'll make sense when we get there."

Night passed into day, and eventually everybody had to get some sleep, such as they could find, in the saddle of Appa. There wasn't much room, so Mai pretty much used Zuko as a mattress, and Sokka was being used by Toph as a footstool as they slept through what they felt were the wee hours of the morning, but the sun declared mid-day.

When Sokka awoke, Ty Lee was flying the bison, no doubt having been told where they were going. The rocky shores of the East Continent, the Earth Kingdoms, came into view. Sokka was glad Appa was getting stronger. Back in the good-old-days, Appa could do one day in flight before falling asleep flying, and that wasn't good for anybody. Now, Appa – was Appa a boy or a girl, Sokka wondered – was still going strong. Sokka slid down next to his girlfriend. "Care to tell me where we're going?"

"Possibly the seediest bar in the southern Earth Kindgom," Ty Lee said brightly. She was doing better than most, because she needed the least amount of sleep. Or she had; ever since she started picking up airbending, her sleeping habits were becoming more... normalized. Instead of catching brief naps throughout the day, she was tending to stay down through the night, even if Sokka didn't... intervene.

"And why would we need to do that?" Sokka asked. "Much as I'd enjoy a stiff drink right now."

"We need to talk to a lady with a giant mole," she answered.

Sokka didn't like that mental image one bit. Ty Lee brought the bison down gently next to a bar which rested amongst trees. Everybody got up, blinking away their fatigue, staring at the setting sun, despite only half a day's travel. Their sleep cycles were under dire jeopardy. Zuko bounded off first, catching his wife as she followed, and everybody else went after him.

Zuko walked right past the bouncer. He made to say a word to Toph, but with a flick of her hand, she dropped him into a close-fitting pit up to his neck in stone. That solved that issue. Inside, there were three completely independent fights happening at the same time, one at either end of the long bar room, and one threatening to cascade over a balcony. Shady men and shady women drank shady drinks.

"I like this place," Toph said, a wide grin on her face.

"And there she is," Zuko said, motioning toward one woman drinking something that Sokka could smell from here.

"What mole?" Sokka asked his girlfriend. "Her skin is flawless," then, his eyes grew wide. He recognized her. "You don't mean..."

"Yup," Zuko said. "Jun."

As they approached, one of the fights moved toward her, and she nimbly moved away, keeping the drink in her hand from spilling a drop. One of the combatants, a man in a white gi and a red bandanna, threw a couple of punches and kicks in her direction. She evaded them, then brilliantly handed her drink into the outstretched hand of somebody who was gesticulating, just long enough to shoulder-throw the fighter into a table in the corner. She then spun, grabbed her drink before the man she'd handed it to even understood what happened, and knocked it back in a single pull.

"Sokka, I think I'm having my first girl-crush," Toph said.

"They're fun, aren't they?" Ty Lee asked. Toph gave her a shove, probably because she bruised easier than everybody else.

"You," Zuko said, looking down at Jun as she sat at the bar, ordering another drink. "I knew that I'd find you here."

"Well, if it isn't Princess Pouty," Jun said, a sly smile on her face as she stared at Zuko. "Where's your fatass uncle?"

"He's not my uncle," Zuko said, somewhat darkly. Sokka had to laugh at her calling Zuko a princess. "And don't call him a 'fatass'."

She glanced over to Katara. "I see you worked things out with your girlfriend."

"She's/I'm not his girlfriend!" Mai, Zuko, and Katara all shouted at once. Jun just let out a laugh.

"Gods, I was just kidding," Jun said. "You really need to work on your sense of humor."

"You're one to talk," Sokka said. "You were working with Azula!"

"Yeah, and she stiffed me on the bill," Jun said. "I'm not very happy about that."

"Well, I've got another job for you," Zuko said.

"And why would I take it? You stiffed me on your bill, too," she pointed out.

"You didn't hold up your end of the bargain," Zuko managed to stay calm. "The deal was Iroh's weight in gold for the Avatar, and you didn't deliver," Jun shrugged. "But that's not the point. We're looking for the Avatar again."

"I don't hunt the Avatar," Jun said. "You know why."

"We just need you to find him," Sokka said. He put on an easy smile. "Come on, it couldn't hurt, could it?"

"I've told you before, Tribesman, I'm not interested in younger men," Jun said. She scowled. "Besides, it doesn't sound like a lot of fun."

"Fun?" Zuko shouted. "Fun? Well, does the end of the world sound like fun?"

"What's he going on about?"

"If we don't find the Avatar, the world burns," Mai said simply.

"Always were one to get to the point, weren't you?" Jun said. "Fine. I like the world. It's got all the things I like in it; stiff drinks, money, fancy shoes..."

"Shoes?" Katara asked.

"Bring me something that has his scent, and Nyla will be able to find him," Jun said, a bit annoyed. The whole group moved outside. Much of the bar seemed to calm when she did. Katara went up and retrieved Aang's headband, while Jun pulled a slab of raw meat out of gods know where, and dangled it in front of her. "Oh, Nyla? Who's my little snuggly shirshu?" Nyla, the giant mole-thing, moved quickly out of the darkness, slamming its teeth around the hunk of meat, just shy of Jun's fingers. "Whoa, girl," Jun said. She motioned over, and Katara held the headband under Nyla's nose. The shirshu walked in a circle, sniffing at the air, before letting out a whine, patting its unusual nose with clawed paws.

"What does that mean?" Zuko asked.

"It means your friend's gone," Jun said, comforting her creature. "He doesn't exist."

"Doesn't exist?" Katara asked. "You mean... he's dead?"

"No. If he was dead, Nyla could find him. He's not in this world," Jun said. "That's a real head-scratcher. But not my problem."

"Wait," Zuko said. "There's somebody else you could help me find."

"Who?" Mai asked, a bit confused. Zuko just had her wait for a moment, as he opened up his fire-resistant bag, and went into one of the very securely sealed compartments. This one had actually been covered in hard wax, so nothing would get out. He opened it, and pulled out... a very stinky sandal. "Is that Iroh's?" Mai asked, dubious.

"Oh, gross," Katara said.

"Why would you bring that with you?" Sokka asked.

"I think it's sweet," Ty Lee said. Of course she would say that. She was constantly upwind of anything stinky. Nyla took only one whiff of that sandal, then let out a gagging noise, before turning and heading north.

"Looks like Nyla's got a trail," Jun said. She looked at them. "If you're gonna follow, you'd better shift ass."

* * *

Aang was getting sick of walking through that tingling forest, every step sending jolts up his legs. For some reason, it was starting to hurt in the center of his back. "We can't just keep going like this," Aang said. But the chanting was close, now. He ducked through a few trees, careful to move between arcs of electric energy, and beheld something quite out of place. While light and energy crackled around it, set in a tiny clearing, bizarre and unthinkable, a hexagon was set into the humus. The growth reached around the perfect shape, but didn't intrude onto its lines. And Aang could hear that sutra, as though it were being chanted there.

_Jie di jie di bo luo jie di bo luo seng jie di pu ti sa po he_

_Guan zi zai pu sa xing shen bo re po luo mi duo shi_...

"What is this place?" Aang said, walking around the hexagon. Here, that tingling stopped, and he could step without those increasing jolts. As well, the pain in his back didn't ramp any higher, although it still hunt hard to the level of pain it had already reached. Momo chattered lightly, dropping down and sitting on the stone, near the center. The lemur looked like it was trying to meditate. "Silly little lemur. You can't meditate."

Momo turned and let out an annoyed sound. Aang sat down on the stone next to Momo, stroking his head. "I just wish I had some advice right now. I don't know what to do. I wish I had somebody I could talk to."

Momo's expression looked almost insulted.

"Wait, I do have somebody I can talk to!" Aang realized. "I'm the Avatar! All of my past lives are here, waiting for me. All I need to do is call out to them, and they'll hear me."

Aang moved into a meditative pose, and cleared his mind of the snapping and crackling of the woods around him. He ignored the pain in his back, the doubt in his heart. The anger. The confusion. He felt, rather than saw, Momo crawling into Aang's lap. And then, Aang began to feel a sensation, one which was familiar and yet not. It was like when he went into the Spirit world, but that couldn't be, because he already was _in_ the Spirit world. When Aang opened his eyes, the world had changed.

There was no forest. There were simply hexagons, stretching out to the horizon. But there wasn't much of a horizon, because there was no sky. Not that there was darkness or something occluding it, there simply wasn't anything that could be called sky in this place. "Your confusion is understandable, Aang," a serene voice said. "This place is a dream within the Spirit."

Aang turned, and his eyes grew wide. "But..."

"I never left your side," the old monk said. "All through your journeys, I was always with you."

"...Monk Gyatso..."

* * *

In the Forest of Energy, clattering came from the limbs. While Bending had been disabled in the Spirit World, inactivated since the dawn of time, the energy still played off of the carapace of the thing which stared down at that portal to the deeper level. The lightning predated bending by many years. The Spirit world was to many a dream, but those who entered in body could dream yet deeper. There were layers not explored in thousands of years.

He had seen them all. He had been there when they were built. He moved closer, his chitinous body brushing against the limbs of trees, their shocking touch not bothering him very much. He opened his face, staring at the meditating monk, the lemur which was not just a lemur. And the face he chose smiled.

"I told you that we would meet again, Avatar," Koh, the Face Stealer said.

* * *

_Next time, on "Of Spirit Kind"_

_The great form of the tree surrounds them, casting shadows in every direction. The chitinous clatter of hard limbs scraping against the wood, against each other, was the only sound to be heard. A great form, so much like a mutated centipede, turns its bulk toward the man who stands in its domain. Its 'eye' opens, and a face peers out._

_"Destiny favors me this day," Koh said, that malevolent voice echoing. "I've always wanted to add another Tribesman to my collection."_

_Sokka fights the urge to smirk._

_Leave a review._


	19. Sozin's Comet: Of Spirit Kind

**Remember how the first chapters of this book might as well have been renamed "Sokka is unexpectedly badass 1, 2, and 3'? This one might well be considered "Wherein Sokka delivers his Badass Boast". Despite the fact that there's so little time left, I managed to shove just one (well, two) last instance(s) of foreshadowing into the book. And to give you a hint, think aaaaaaaall the way back to the middle of Book 2, to the specific words one character used. Koh isn't pulling this out of his non-existent ass. Even the Creators of the show agreed with me (albeit only in the extra features).**

**Azula is now officially a Woobie, and there's something Zuko's not telling the audience. We're so close. Only two chapters left until the grand finale. This time next week, the story will be up in its entirety. It's a damned good thing I finished this thing a week and a half ago. Strap in, hold on, and get ready for a bar-fight. Oh, wait, you already had one of those in the previous chapter. Um... Get ready to annoy a monkey!**

* * *

Deadline. It was a hell of a word.

Zuko felt every day pressing down on him, more and more. He was definitely on a deadline, and the word, which had previously only had an expository meaning, suddenly had a visceral one as well. How many days until Sozin's Comet arrived? He could count them on one hand. Not enough. They'd flown north across the continent, day and night, until they'd gone over the imposing walls of Ba Sing Se. Not far inside, the bounty hunter finally pulled her shirshu to a stop, dropping out of the saddle and stretching herself like a waking tiger-wolf.

"Why are you stopping?" Zuko demanded.

"Nyla's getting twitchy, so we must be close," Jun said. She let out a wide yawn. "Just keep heading that way, and you'll be on your uncle faster than your father on an unwilling maid."

"Ozai isn't my father," Zuko said. Jun shrugged.

"Whatever," Jun said. "I'll consider not having the world burned to the ground repayment for this. If you don't deliver, then I'll take it out of your corpses, got it?"

"Yes ma'am," Zuko said idly. He was beyond tired. He felt like the only thing holding him upright was his grip on the reins and his seat on Appa's brow. Jun had been awake as long as any of the rest of them, and she started out at least a little drunk besides. She had truly _remarkable_ stamina. He was going to have to remember her in the future; she could be useful to him. Especially if he failed. Jun hopped back onto her shirshu and began to move away, albeit not at the break-neck pace which brought her, and the rest of them, here. It was the middle of the night, but to Zuko, it felt like early evening; he'd traveled about half a world east less than a few days ago. It was royally buggering his sense of time.

He should have slept. He could have. He needed to. But just as much as he needed rest, he needed even more to see Iroh again. To know that he hadn't burnt the most important bridge in his life. He pressed onward, Appa walking along the ground rather than flying. He wasn't as good at seeing in the dark as the Tribesmen were, nor at a distance as well as his wife. They were all asleep. Zuko took his time. The bison was probably as tired as the rest of them.

Zuko felt himself nodding off. He glanced down, and saw that Chong Sheng was glancing around. Not nervously, but as if it could see something Zuko couldn't. "What is it?"

The tiny dragon reached a tiny whisker and touched Zuko's face. Instantly, transmitted in that way dragon's only could, it related its thoughts, not was words, but as impressions and images. Spirit hybrid. Brilliant lunatic. Zuko didn't understand. But then again, he wasn't a dragon, so there was bound to be some confusion. Zuko heard it before he saw it. It was splashing at a stream, drinking and throwing water over its back. Its forepaws were massive and muscular, its back legs smaller but still bearing a wiry strength. It had the ears of a rabbit and the tusks of a boar, the eyes of a lemur, and the size of a platypus bear. It was white, energetic, and the singularly strangest creature Zuko had ever seen. It spotted Appa, which was understandable, considering the size, and began to lope over.

Appa gave a bellow at it, and it stopped before the bison. It reached forward, sniffing, then licked Appa's nose. Appa returned the favor, almost knocking the unidentifiable creature over. "Great. Now Appa's making friends too," Zuko said, rolling his eyes. He heard cackling, snorting laughter, and his eyes widened.

"Oooooh Flopsie!" a thin, reedy voice came from the rocks nearby. A stooped old man, the little hair he still had white, his face as rough as the rocks around him, came into view. "There you are, Flopsie! I thought you'd run away again."

"What is it?"

"It's Flopsie," the old man said peevishly. "I would have thought that obvious. But the question is, what are you doing here, Prince Zuko?"

Zuko sagged a bit. "Is there anywhere I go where people don't know who I am?"

"The Order of the White Lotus was told that you'd be approaching," he said, with a shrug.

"Zuko, why aren't we flying?" Katara asked, leaning over the edge of the saddle. "We're running out of... King Bumi?"

Only then did Zuko recognize the supercentenarian man. King Bumi of Omashu, one of the last holdouts in the Southern Earth Kingdoms. His eyes were two different shades of green, and when Bumi stopped hunching over, it became apparent that his cape was concealing an almost cartoonishly muscular build. A hundred and sixteen years had been remarkably forgiving to this man, all things considered.

"King who?" Sokka levered himself up, and when he saw what his sister saw, his eyes widened and he thrust out a finger in alarm. "Ah! King Bumi!"

"Hello, children!" Bumi waved placidly.

"King what?" Mai shifted, and when she saw Bumi her eyes grew wide as well. "King Bumi?" she shouted, confused.

"I remember you," Bumi said. "You're parents took over my city. I couldn't let that stand, now could I?"

"What did you do to them?" Mai asked, standing, knives falling into her hands.

"I threw them a feast!" he declared. Mai's eyes narrowed.

"It means exactly what he said it does," Sokka said. Mai still didn't look convinced.

"Does everybody know this guy except me?" Zuko complained.

"I don't," Toph said. "He's just some old guy to me."

"I think he's funny," Ty Lee opined.

"Now, you, I'm not surprised to see," Bumi said, obviously intending Ty Lee. "Piandao said he'd be gathering the Baihu sisters. Those which remained; Zhu Di is with him. I'm terribly sorry about what happened to your family. Grand Lotus Pion will be missed."

"I'm going to be alright," Ty Lee said. "Wait. Piandao? Is he here?"

"Of course he is!" Bumi bore himself up. "All old people know each other. Follow me! We're going to Old People Camp!"

"That was... weird," Katara said.

"It's _King Bumi_," her brother pointed out. Katara had to agree with that addendum.

"Eh. I've seen better," Toph muttered. Zuko couldn't resist a smirk at that. Bumi and... Flopsie... obviously hadn't strayed far, because it wasn't long until Zuko could see the black-and-white tents arrayed near the stream. Despite the night, there was still activity in the camp. Although, it might have been because a twelve tonne white bison was walking toward it. Bumi stomped a foot, and with a rumble, the earthbent wall around the encampment dipped, forming a gate. It wasn't big enough for Appa to get through, but that didn't seem to matter, because people were already getting off of the bison.

"Master Pakku?" Katara asked, spotting a white-haired man standing near the gate. "What are you doing here?"

Pakku wasn't a tall man; Zuko overtopped him. His eyes were very dark blue, and though his robes were black and white, Zuko had a feeling that this was a waterbender. "My duty. I have I would have remained in the South Pole, but when Grand Lotus Iroh sent forth the call, I could not refuse."

"How are things back home?" Sokka asked.

"Better than I could have hoped," Pakku said. "I have already found quite a few children who will be promising waterbenders. Some of them have already started training. Ked and Benell seem most... enthusiastic," Pakku suddenly shed his icy demeanor. "But I suppose you're asking more about your grandmother. Things had gone better than I'd hoped there, too. I made her a new engagement necklace and everything."

Sokka broke into a grin, and gave the waterbending master a huge hug. "That's incredible! Wait... does that mean I get to call you Gramp-gramp now?"

"No."

"Oh, I've got it!" Sokka said. "Gramp-Pakku!"

Gently pushing Sokka away, Pakku shook his head. "Let's just stick with Pakku, for the time being."

"Master Piandao!" Ty Lee was flying through the air into a tangling hug the instant the words were clear of her mouth. Sokka also bowed reverently to the man. Zuko raised his only eyebrow, but didn't question it. "You look so great! How are my sisters? Did you get here alright? Is Ozai trying to kill you too? Hey, guess what? I'm an airbender! Isn't that great?"

"Ty Lee, please, one thing at a time," Piandao said, trying to navigate through her wall of speech. When his keen mind caught up with the last part of what she said, his eyes grew wide. "An airbender? But I thought that was impossible."

Ty Lee separated from Piandao, and pulled the air under her, forming a scooter much the way Aang did, zooming around the entrance a few times before it faded away, her foot caught the ground, and she was thrown onto her face. "I'm still practicing!" she said enthusiastic despite her prone status.

"That's incredible," Piandao said, seeming to be a bit overwhelmed. Zuko looked into the distance, and his eyes widened.

"Toph, what's your mother doing here?" Zuko asked.

"She's what?" Toph asked. Toph gave a quick look to the others, before letting out a groan and moving into the camp towards Poppy. Zuko shook his head, and turned just in time to get punched in the gut. He went down, letting out a gasp of air. When he looked up, a very large, smirking Kyoshi Warrior was looking down at him.

"That's for burning down my village," Suki said, before offering Zuko a hand back up. When Zuko's gaze caught Mai, he could see that she had a knife ready to throw. Suki then pulled Zuko into a bear-hug. "And this is for getting me out of that gods-forsaken prison!"

"Suffocating..." Zuko wheezed. Suki released her grip, and glanced over. Mai rolled her eyes and went to lean against a tree. She seemed to be the only one that didn't have somebody unexpected to greet her. Zuko quickly scanned the camp again. "Wait... where's Iroh?"

"Your uncle? He's here," Suko laid a huge hand on Zuko's shoulder and dragged him through the camp. Zuko still didn't know what was going on.

"I still don't get it. Waterbenders, an Earth Kingdom mining magnate, a king, a Fire Nation weaponsmaster, _you_... what do you all have in common?" Zuko asked. "Besides the obvious dislike of Ozai."

"This isn't about Ozai," Suki said. "We're all members of a secret organization, thousands of years old, which transcends the boundaries of nation and race. The Order of the White Lotus has always been about beauty and philosophy and truth, something which no nation can hold monopoly on. I'm surprised that you haven't heard about us before," Zuko ran fingers through his hair. "We number two and a half thousand strong, from the Secretariat of the Outer Ring of Ba Sing Se, to the man who taught you how to swordfight, warriors, artists, theologians all. Here rest the most powerful warriors the White Lotus has ever had in its roster. We came when your uncle sent out the call; Every member still alive leapt to answer it. Those who could fight came here. Others, less martial, have other tasks."

"Namely?"

"Bringing this war to a shuddering halt as soon as possible," Suki said. "Ty Lee's sister was quite helpful with that. Aan Jee, I think her name was. A few words in the right place at the right time, and entire armies collapse. Ah. This is it. Grand Lotus Iroh is inside."

She patted Zuko on the back and walked away. He didn't question how she'd gotten from Kad Deid to here; she had her methods. Or why she did, since that seemed obvious: she was one of _them_. He knelt on the ground in front of the tent flap. How could he go in there? How could he face Iroh, his father, after so much pain and hardship and betrayal? He stared at that canvas flap, that impenetrable barrier, until he noticed Katara moving near him.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Iroh's in there," Zuko said quietly. "He loved and supported me and... I betrayed him. I don't think I can face him. He must be furious with me."

"You're sorry for what you did," Katara said.

"More than anything in my life," Zuko answered, with crushing honesty.

She put her hand on his shoulder. "Then he'll forgive you. But you need to give him that chance. Go. Talk to him," she said. Zuko nodded, then rose. He summoned courage, trying to still his hammering heart, give motion to his unsteady legs. He pushed through the flap. Snoring assaulted him. He looked ahead, and he beheld Iroh, splayed out on a thin mattress on the ground, snoring like he was a saw ripping through lumber.

Zuko was... he wasn't sure what he was. Relieved? Annoyed? Crestfallen? Afraid? There was so much going on inside his own mind that he couldn't keep track of it all. Zuko was exhausted. He would wait. Iroh would get his night's sleep. Zuko knelt down on the carpet, then shifted into a lazing slouch. After not very long at all, Zuko was as asleep as his father.

* * *

Fire Lord Azula sat at one end of the long table, a skewer in her hand, as she sampled the many delicacies that the cooks had brought in from all parts of the Fire Nation to celebrate her approaching coronation. At this point, the coronation was little more than a formality. Her _father_ had promised her the position, and here she had it. The position she deserved. But empty. Poisoned.

It still hurt to cross her legs.

She didn't taste the many things that passed her lips. She knew, from the fact that the Imperial gourmets were still alive that nobody had poisoned her, but for some reason, everything tasted like ashes on her tongue. A glance around the room to the others showed eagerness, almost desperation. There was no way that they were sabotaging the dinner just as it reached her.

But then again, everybody was trying to harm her.

Azula's eyes went wide as she felt something lodge in her throat. She leaned forward, wheezing against the obstruction, her knuckles hard on the table. She called up the fire and demanded it burn, no matter the pain. She felt heat ignite inside her chest, searing, broiling, painful. Then, there was air again. She coughed and spat, and a grey smear landed on the table. Ashes. Azula's golden eyes swept up.

"Who is responsible for this?" she shouted. The gourmet's all went pale, eyes glancing amongst their number. Quickly, one of them cast a traitorous finger at the one who had sampled her fish. All others joined her in very short order. Azula's eyes flicked past him, and to the servant who waited by the doors. "Go to the kitchens. Bring the cooks here immediately."

"Princess Azula?" the servant inquired, baffled.

"FIRE LORD! NOW DO AS I ORDER!" Azula shouted. The servant blanched, then fled the chamber. Azula began to clack her fingernails hard against the table-top. So hard, in fact, that one of them broke. She shivered for a moment, feeling another aspect of her perfection fraying. Of ten fingers, only three still had her proper, long and sharp fingernails. The others had broken... or been chewed off.

Eventually, that servant returned, bearing the cooking staff. Men and a few women in spattered white smocks, their hair either tied back or shaved off, filed around her end of the table. She waited, her eyes narrow, until they began to fidget. Eventually, one of them, the head chef on duty, rose his voice. "May I ask what..."

"Come here," Azula said. The short, pluggy man gave a glance to one of his inferiors, then went to Azula's side. When he was before her seat, he leaned toward her at her motion. Then, she grabbed his throat and slammed his face down on the table, right beside the ashy blotch which had almost choked her. "DO YOU SEE THIS?"

"I see it, Fire Lord Azula!" he said, panicking.

"Do you know what it is?" Azula asked, her tones as hot as her flames.

"It is ash, Fire Lord," the chef cried out, as one of her remaining fingernails dug into his face right under an eye.

"And what did it _use to_ be?" she stressed. His eyes flit up to the plate of fish, then back to her wrathful expression.

"A... fish bone, Fire Lord Azula?" he asked, shuddering against her grip.

"And what is happening right now?" Azula asked, her tones finally starting to mediate toward something approaching reproachful boredom.

"The celebration of your ascendancy, Fire Lord," the chef said, his amber eyes locked on hers. Fear shone in them as brightly as Agni himself.

"And why, therefore, did you decide that in the most important period of this new monarch's rule that you should be so utterly remiss to leave bones in your dish?" Azula asked, harshly.

"It wasn't a decision, it was... a small mistake," the chef blurted.

"Small? What if I had been unable to dislodge that bone in time?" Azula pressed. He went deathly pale.

"You... would have... choked..." he said. She smirked.

"Then you understand the severity of your crime," Azula said.

"Please, forgive me, Fire Lord," the chef begged. Two fingers came up in her other hand, calling for the fire. It would be so quick, so certain...

Don't do this.

Azula seethed, hearing that voice in her head again. Now, when she needed clarity more than anything. It chided at her, stabbed at her with hateful needles, pointed out everything that she did was wrong and tried to make her feel like she was going insane.

You're not insane. You're just confused.

Azula scowled down at the chef, sending another inward. She was never more certain of anything in her life. These people just tried to assassinate her! Nobody should ever raise a hand against her and have it go unpunished! That would make her weak!

You're becoming paranoid. Like Azulon.

No. She was not Azulon. She wasn't terrified by everything in the dark, paralyzed into indolence by imagined slights and non-existent enemies. This man had almost killed her with his stupidity, and now he was going to pay the price.

But what price will that be?

Azula stared for another long moment, then released her grip on the chef's face, letting the flame that never was flow back down into her pool of chi. She adopted a dismissive tone to mask her stymied rage. "Very well, since this is a joyous time, I will grant you mercy."

"Thank you, Fire Lord Azula," the chef bowed.

"You are banished," Azula said.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"You are all banished!" Azula shouted. "You will leave the city immediately. Is that clear?"

The chefs and the gourmets all looked amongst each other, every one of them white with fear. They all gave low bows, and departed. Azula would have no need to fear their treachery any longer. She reached down and pulled a cherry from the bowl. She always loved cherries. She popped it into her mouth, hoping to savor that sweet flavor. Ashes. And when she bit into it, she felt a crunch. She spat, and a pit lay on the table, right beside the ash.

Azula's head slowly lowered to the table, as she clutched at her hair, and began to hyperventilate. Nobody would _ever_ love her.

* * *

"I don't understand!" Aang said, his eyes wide as he bolted to his feet. "You... you died a hundred years ago!"

Gyatso smiled serenely, and nodded. "I did."

"You should have been freed! You achieved enlightenment," Aang said. Gyatso shrugged. "But... then you killed those firebenders."

"Sometimes, a man must sacrifice spiritual desires for the good of the world," Gyatso said sagely. "I sacrificed enlightenment in the name of attachment, a worthy price for what the world needed. We tried to fight for the souls of the firebenders, but a dark man guided their hand. The world needed to know that even at the height of their martial power, the Fire Nation was not invincible. The South Temple was the last invaded. I decided that I alone could pay that price."

"You did that... but why?" Aang asked.

"Because I wanted to see you again," Gyatso said, a sad smile on his passive face. "When I died, I felt myself moving toward the Sea of Souls. But I was a shaman as well as an airbender. I knew the other paths. I moved to the Well of Regrets, installed my failure into it. I will never be human again."

"But... Then what are you?"

"We have spoken many times," Gyatso said, "but you never realized I was speaking back."

Aang's eyes grew wide. "You're... Momo?"

Gyatso nodded. "I found my way back into the world among the beasts. I do not regret it. I have lived dozens of simple, primal lives. I knew I would see you again. It was destiny that you came to the South Air Temple, that you saw me in the Chamber of the Spiral."

"I never knew."

"And you should not speak of it," Gyatso said. "I have broken many rules. Many spirits would punish me if it were known. But I could not bear to let you struggle alone. I am so pleased with the people you have associated yourself with. I am so proud of you, my student, my Avatar."

Aang lowered himself back to the hexagon amidst a field of hexagons. "I don't know what to do. Everybody says that I need to take the Fire Lord's life, but I swore I would never use my powers to take a human life ever again. What if I can't beat him without killing him? What if I lose?"

Aang felt the world shift. Sitting in the heart of the next hexagon over was Avatar Yangchen. "The duty of the Avatar takes precedence over every rote of spiritual belief or bodhisattva," she said. "When I was born, it was to a time of conflict between the angry South Water Tribe and the lands upon the shores of its seas. That was Avatar Susano's failure. Her love and her pacifism was her downfall, betrayed by the Tribesmen she thought she could trust. As Avatar, I was pitiless, paranoid. I trusted nobody. History would call me an 'effective Avatar', but in the end, I was alone and miserable."

"Is that my path?" Aang asked. He shook his head. "I refuse. I choose to respect all living things. I'm even a _vegetarian_ for gods' sakes!"

"Your path is yours to walk, and yours alone," Yangchen said. "I lived in a time of war, but because of my efforts, a time of peace was restored. If you want to succeed as the Avatar, you must understand that there are aspects of your spiritual growth, from your childhood as an Air Nomad, which can only interfere with your duties in this world. You cannot achieve without sacrifice. You must pay the price for your actions."

As her last words hit the air, her body turned into shadow, and sank into the strange, unrecognizable pattern on the surface of the hexagon. Aang turned to Gyatso. His eyes had slid shut, and he sat in a meditative pose. "She wants me to kill the Fire Lord," Aang said.

"I did not hear that," Gyatso said. "She said 'your actions have consequences'."

Aang turned, and felt something move out of him again. On a different hexagon, a form stared up, blue vestments and mole-r bear helm on his head. It was Avatar Kuruk. "The duty of the Avatar cannot be put aside for selfish reasons," Kuruk said. "When I was young, the world was in a state of peace, so my position held little task. I wandered the world, seeking tests of my skill and strength, as the people in the five nations sorted out their own problems. Yangchen's paranoia and distrust became my indolence and faith. I inherited a world at peace, so I felt it was my job to stir things up a bit."

Kuruk briefly rubbed his head. "But it was not always to be. I fell in love. Ummi. She was taken away from me by Koh, the Face Stealer, as punishment for my letting the Spirit world go unattended for so long. Every year, I tried again to get her back, to free her from the Face Stealer's grasp. Every year, I failed. Until with one failure, I did not return. If I had been more attentive, paid more attention to the opportunities and challenges around me, it all could have been prevented. Aang, you must be aware, and shape your own destiny. Only then, can you save your world."

Kuruk faded back into the shadows, sinking into the ground. Aang looked to Gyatso. "I don't understand what I'm trying to tell me," Aang said. "It sounds like..."

"You must be willing to hear beyond the words," Gyatso said. "Be attentive."

"I hope you're right," Aang said. "I really do."

* * *

Iroh opened his eyes. He dreamed of a warm evening, not far from here. The rain had fallen, leaving the ground squishy under his feet. He remembered the pain as he stared down at his son's body, lifeless on the ground. It was a sad dream. Lu Ten was not the kindest nor the wisest nor the greatest of men, but he was Iroh's son... at least, he was once. At some point, Ozai's hand began to guide Lu Ten. By the time Iroh laid siege to Ba Sing Se, Lu Ten was Ozai's son, not Iroh's. It hurt to remember that day. It was odd that Iroh dreamed it. It was odd that Iroh dreamed at all.

Iroh let out a yawn, stretching, getting the blood flowing through his old body. He would be seventy not many years from now. Not long left. He knew the day of his own death, the time, the place. The people who would be with him. What should have been terrifying was an unusual comfort. Iroh shifted himself upward, tracing a respectful hand on the edge of the White Lotus standard. He was actually somewhat young for a Grand Lotus. But his was an unusual life. He turned, and his eyes opened wide.

Blinking his way to lucidity was Zuko. The boy... no. He wasn't a boy any longer. He had a manful beard and a height surpassing Iroh's own. No, Zuko, the young man, looked at Iroh, so many conflicting emotions in his eyes that it seemed he was paralyzed. "I guess you have... mixed feelings seeing me," Zuko said quietly, his golden eyes staring downward, as though incapable of holding Iroh's gaze. "But I want you to know that I'm so... so sorry... Father."

It was Iroh's turn to feel something pull at his heart. Zuko looked up. Tears were in his eyes. "I'm so sorry, and ashamed of what I did," Zuko continued. "And I know that I can never make it up to you. But I need you to know, that I'll–"

Iroh cut him off by pulling his neph... his son... into his arms, the embrace that he never got a chance to give Zuko when he needed it most. Zuko seemed rigid with shock, confusion. "I thought you'd be furious with me. How could you forgive me after what I did?" Zuko said, in utter confusion. Iroh parted somewhat, a beaming smile under hopeful eyes.

"I was never angry with you," Iroh said. "I was afraid. Because I thought you had lost your way."

"I had," Zuko said. "But I found it again."

"And you did it on your own," Iroh said. Zuko stifled a sob. "I am so proud of you, Zuko. I'm so happy that you found your way here, after everything you went through."

Zuko smiled, tears rolling down his face. "It wasn't hard," Zuko said, embracing Iroh again. "You have a very strong scent."

"I _might not_ be your father," Iroh said. "Ursa was still Ozai's wife..."

"No," Zuko said certainly. "He is not my father. I know that it's true. And even if it wasn't, I'd still believe it. You were always the father I needed, a better father in six years than Ozai was in thirteen. I am your son, Iroh. I always was. I just didn't realize it."

Iroh smiled against his son's shoulder. Against all possible odds, Iroh's family had returned to him. He had two sons. One was lost to Ozai, but the other came home to him. "We should go. It's breakfast time, and the day will be trying."

Zuko nodded, composing himself and rising to his feet. Iroh noted that Zuko was still wearing the double flame headpiece of Avatar Roku. Zuko learned the lesson well. Iroh left the tent, and found much of the group he expected arrayed before him. Katara, the Southern waterbender. Sokka, her brother. Toph, the blind earthbender. Ty Lee, close by Sokka's side. He didn't expect to find Mai, Zuko's companion here as well. And one was missing.

Bumi was also sitting nearby, talking shop with Toph. The two of them seemed to fire back and forth faster and faster in Tianxia until they were tripping over each other's words, and Iroh couldn't follow them anymore. Earthbending was the subject, but beyond that, Iroh was baffled. Zuko waved toward the dark-clothed woman. "Iroh, I don't know if you remember my wife, Mai of House Loyo Lah?"

"You got married?" Iroh asked. Zuko smiled and shrugged. Iroh smiled, clapping a hand on the Prince's shoulder. "I knew you would find happiness one day, Son. It was just a matter of faith."

"Tell me about it," Zuko said, eyes widening momentarily. Iroh looked at the gathered people.

"Somebody is missing," Iroh said.

"Yes, I noticed that immediately," Bumi said, switching from one conversation to another so abruptly that Toph looked like she tripped over something, despite the fact she was sitting down. "Somebody important isn't here, at a time of dire need," the aged earthbender said. He suddenly leaned toward Sokka, staring him in the face, so close that Sokka had to lean back or else rub noses with the old man. "WHERE'S MOMO?"

Sokka glanced to the rest of the people. "He's gone!" Sokka said. He hesitated. "And so's Aang!"

Bumi leapt to his feet. "This is terrible! Maybe. Is it?" he paused, running his fingers down his beard. "I need to think for a moment."

"Now that I've found you, we can bring the fight to the Fire Lord," Zuko said, but Iroh shook his head. "Without Aang, you're probably the only one who can defeat him."

Iroh picked up a bowl of breakfast. "No, it would not end well," Iroh said. "Even if I were to defeat the Fire Lord – and I'm not even sure that I could – the world would see it only as one brother murdering another over power. No peace would come of this. The only way for this war to end properly is if the Avatar defeats the Fire Lord."

"And you'll reclaim your rightful place on the throne," Zuko finished, but Iroh shook his head.

"No. Even though it was never Ozai's to have, at the same time, it was never mine," Iroh said. "Someone _new_ has to take the throne. A man of ideals and justice, and unquestionable honor. A man who was willing to make any personal sacrifice to bring peace to the world. It has to be you, Prince Zuko," Iroh said. Zuko's eyes went wide.

"But... why?" he asked. "You could be..."

"I never wanted to rule," Iroh said. "Even before I lost Lu Ten, I knew that it was not my place to reign. The world sees me as you once did, as a layabout, as a waste of space. I have already abdicated, my son. When you return to the city, it will be _you_ who claims the seat as Fire Lord. I can think of none who deserve it better. You've struggled, and you've suffered. You've grappled with the issues of kingship first hand, and they've made you stronger and wiser than Ozai ever was. You restored your own honor, and you pave your own destiny. I trust in _only you_ to restore that honor and repair the destiny to the Fire Nation."

"I'm honored... Father," Zuko said, nodding, his voice breaking.

"TERRIBLE!" Bumi blurted out, forcing everybody to inch away from him.

Everybody stared at the mad king for a moment before Mai, ever unflappable, asked the question everybody was thinking. "What?" her voice was not amused.

"Aang is with a fair degree of certainty in mortal peril!" Bumi announced. Young Toph scowled at him.

"From what?"

"My assumption is that he has entered bodily into the Spirit world, and that Momo went with him," Bumi said, a finger leveled to the sky. Toph blanched at that.

"Why would he do that?" Toph asked. "I mean, the last time I went there, I got my face ripped off and I got thrown into the Pit of Oblivion!"

Iroh frowned at the teenage girl. "It couldn't be," Iroh said. "Yu?"

"In the flesh, more or less," Toph said. She leaned over and slugged Iroh in the arm. "It's been a while, ain't it?"

"How is this possible?" Iroh asked. Everybody shrugged. "She should not have been able to remember her past life if she entered the Sea of Souls."

"I didn't," Toph said. "I made a promise to the Heavens. And they gave me pretty much the same answer that they give everybody: earn it. It just took me a while," she grinned briefly. "Man, do you remember the trouble you and I got into out in Three Hills?"

"I was young and easily swayed," Iroh said, a little uncomfortable having to discuss this with both the person who embarrassed him so thoroughly, and simultaneously in the same body, a fifteen year old girl. "And you were a bad influence. If you hadn't introduced me to my wife, I wouldn't have..."

Toph frowned. "Wait a second. You sent me into the Spirit world in body," she said. "What's stopping you to send somebody to find him?"

"Two conversations, no waiting," Sokka said. "So what the hell's going on?"

"Apparently, Iroh is a shaman," Mai said flatly.

"And sent Toph in a past life into the Spirit world in body," Ty Lee added. "I didn't know you were a shaman!"

"Only Fire Sages are supposed to be shamans. It's not something the Fire Nation looks kindly on," Iroh said, sighing. He turned to Bumi. "You are sure this is so?"

"Mathematically!"

Iroh sighed. "When I was young, I had a vision that I would take Ba Sing Se. Only now do I understand that I would be _taking it back_ from the Fire Nation," Iroh said. "We live in strange times. The airbenders return. The White Lotus prepares for war. A forsaken son will retake a throne from a fractured daughter."

Zuko's eyes widened. "What are you talking about?"

"Several days ago, Ozai abdicated the seat of Fire Lord to Azula," Iroh said. "And he has claimed a new title: Phoenix King. Our destinies are at hand. And to ensure that Aang will face my brother, we must bring him back into the world."

"How?" Katara asked. Iroh stared at her for a moment. It wasn't looking at auras, per se, but gaging a feeling he had about her. No, not her.

"Some are born with the gift. I was not. When the spirits bring one into the Spirit world in body, it changes the mortal; it makes it possible for them to move across that veil," Iroh said. Ty Lee wouldn't do, either. He turned to Toph. "You could, because of your... unusual past, but it wouldn't help the Avatar."

"Why not?"

"Bending does not work in the Spirit world. You would be truly blind," Iroh kept scanning along, ignoring his son and his son's wife. He paused long on Sokka. "But you... you could make that journey."

"Excuse me?" Sokka asked, bewilderment on his face. "You can't be serious."

"You are the best option," Iroh said, rising to his feet. "You have the mark of the spirit touched. They follow you still."

"You don't understand," Katara said. "My brother has pretty much nothing to do with spirits. He didn't even believe in them until one kidnapped him!"

Iroh raised an eyebrow.

"You're telling me that me, the guy with science and sarcasm and rationality, is the only one who can go and fish Aang out of the weirdest damned place I've ever been to? A place that doesn't obey any law of physics?" Sokka asked.

"You are inventive, and cunning," Iroh said.

"In other words, I'm the only one who's not a bender and won't slow everybody else down," Sokka said.

"You're _not_?" Iroh asked. He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. It won't be any elemental martial art which can aid you. Only your mind. And, despite what you might believe about yourself, yours is a mind of the ages. Piandao spoke highly of you; there _can be_ no greater guardian of the Avatar than you. Now prove it," Iroh turned to his son. "But you? You must retake the Capital. Azula will not cleave to power well. As long as she remains, she is a threat not only to the peace we seek to create, but herself as well. You must face her, but I don't believe you can face her alone. Even with everything I've taught you, she is still the most powerful bender of any one element in the world: With Sozin's Comet, she could outmatch the Avatar himself. You will need help."

"What will you do?" Zuko asked.

"I will lead the warriors as they retake Ba Sing Se," Iroh said. A sudden grin came to his aged face. "And while I'm there, I'm going to reconquer my tea-shop. I will have the finest teas and play Pai Sho every day. That will be a good life. But you have your own task. Who will go with you?"

"You know I'm not going to stay away," Mai said. "She tried to kill me. She keeps trying to kill him. I'm not going to let that happen."

"Mai, I can't let you..." Zuko trailed off when Mai shot a look at him. Iroh couldn't help but smirk. He had found himself a strong woman. "Fine. I know you'll be alright." Zuko turned to Katara. "Katara, this is probably going to seem selfish, but..."

"Azula needs to go down," Katara said. "I know that as well as you do. If I can help, then I can't turn away," she took a calming breath. "Aang will face the Phoenix King. We'll make sure that the war is over by the time he's done. I'm with you, Zuko."

Iroh smiled. "Ba Sing Se, Sozin City, and the Avatar. Three targets, three leaders. We will be part of the greatest battle this world has seen in centuries, with the fate of all things hanging in the balance. But we are strong. Today, destiny is our friend. I know it. Thank you, Prince Zuko, for coming back to me. Thank you all, for being a part of this struggle."

The teenagers nodded, smiling with distant expressions on most faces. Zuko gave Iroh one last embrace before moving toward Appa, the Avatar's bison. Mai gave Iroh a nod, which was much more than she usually did. Katara seemed to hesitate, but then gave a nod as well, before joining the other two on the bison, and flying to the west. "What about us?" Toph asked.

Sokka frowned for a moment. "Even if Aang faces Ozai, somebody has to stop his plan from going through. He's got a fleet of airships out there somewhere, and we need to take them down before they can burn the Heel of Ru Nan to ashes. That should be your task."

"They're based out of an island off the coast of the East Continent," Bumi said. "Suki will accompany you all to our other taskforce," Sokka looked suspicious. "You are intelligent, but I didn't become king by being _only_ insane. They will try to keep the airships grounded. I trust you to do the rest."

Bumi broke off into cackling, snorting laughter, and Sokka moved to kneel before Iroh. "So how does this work?" Sokka asked.

"Close your eyes," Iroh said. The Tribesman did as he was instructed. "Listen closely. When you travel into the Spirit world in spirit, it can have some unusual effects. You appear as you expect to appear, carrying only what you believe yourself worthy of carrying. It is not a task for the faint of heart nor the weak of will. I do not know how you will find the Avatar, but I know that you must. Too much depends on you not to. Do you understand?"

"No, but that hasn't stopped me before," Sokka said, a smirk on his face. Iroh cleared his own mind, picturing that place, where the the path of uneven flagstones twisted toward the Spirit Oasis, where he first was brought across that veil. He felt that sense of stretching, as though he were about to pass over himself. He reached forward, and laid his fingers to the young man's brow, and passed that sensation onto him. The smirk slipped away, and Sokka's face became impassive. He was in the Spirit, now. The last time he'd done that, it was with Yu, and his body vanished into the naked air. Yu never returned. Until today. Another vision he thought wrong, proven wrong in its wrongness. Sokka would succeed. The Avatar would face the abdicated Fire Lord. Iroh rose to his feet.

"Good luck. Good luck to us all," Iroh said.

* * *

"Avatar Kyoshi, I need your wisdom," Aang said. He felt himself pull apart again, and Kyoshi appeared at an oblique, so he had to turn a bit to see her.

"The duty of the Avatar is to act in the name of justice, with justice in your heart and in your deeds," Kyoshi said. "In my day, Chin the Conqueror waged a war of conquest over the entire of the Earth Kingdoms, subjugating everybody who stood in his way. His wanton destruction threatened to throw the entire world out of balance. I was born a worker, and a soldier. I never shied away from doing what needed to be done. Kuruk's laziness and hubris became my focus and mercilessness. At the age of thirty, I stopped Chin and set about the beginning of an age of peace in the East."

"You didn't kill Chin," Aang said. "You humbled his armies and humiliated him, but if he hadn't have been so stubborn and just moved away, he wouldn't have fallen to his death."

"I don't choose to see it that way," Kyoshi said. "I took the field fully expecting to slay Chin with my own hand. I would have, if it meant that the world could recover from his age of tyranny. You might not agree with my methods, but they brought the world back from the brink of destruction. It was a sad, lonely existence. But I learned to set that hatred aside. My second century of life was the happiest I ever had; when I finally died, it was surrounded by great-great grandchildren, knowing that the world would be at peace after I was gone. You wished my advice? Here it is. Only by holding _justice_ in your heart and displaying it in your deeds can you bring peace to the world."

Aang sighed as Kyoshi vanished into shadows. "I knew I shouldn't have asked an earthbender," he muttered. "She's a soldier. I'm not. I can't kill people. I refuse to!"

"When did she tell you to kill Ozai?" Gyatso asked.

"I need somebody more contemporary," Aang said. "I need somebody who understands _this_ war, _this_ conflict," Aang closed his eyes. "Avatar Roku, I need your wisdom."

"The greatest sin any Avatar can commit is to overlook what one sees before him, to choose not to act when action is needed," Roku said, appearing directly before Aang, but he looked different than he had before. Now, his beard was merely greyed, not white. He looked middle aged, rather than ancient. "I was born into an age of peace, a prodigy of firebending. I was chosen by the Royal House to train with their rising star, Prince Sozin, despite my humble background. It would build a friendship which lasted for decades, but levied a terrible cost. What had been Kyoshi's mercilessness and focus, became my mercy and indecision. I tried to show restraint and discretion in my life and my dealings."

"I know. That's why I think you'll understand," Aang said. "Everybody expects me to take the Fire Lord's life, and I know that I can't!"

"My discretion, my mercy, backfired upon me," Roku said sadly. "Fire Lord Sozin took advantage of my indecision to launch a genocide against your people. If I had been just a bit more unforgiving, if I had had been more willing to see Sozin for the power-mad man that he had become, I could have stopped him, and prevented this Weary War before it even began," Roku looked at Aang, his golden eyes flashing against the void. "Every Avatar exists as a reaction to the one who came before him. I was merciful, indecisive. What are you?" Aang couldn't answer that question. "If you want my wisdom, then I will always give it to you. No matter your endeavor or your mission, whether today or any day in the unknowable future, you must always have faith, not only in your abilities but your decisions. You must be decisive. Anything less, and the whole world slips away."

Roku faded into the darkness, and Aang hung his head, clutching at the short hair growing over his pate with tense fingers. "I can't believe it," Aang said, his eyes wide. "I'm going to have to kill the Fire Lord."

"If that is your decision, then you must abide it," Gyatso said. "But you _must not_ lose faith in yourself. I haven't. You still can hold true to what you believe and win the day."

"I'm not sure what I believe anymore," Aang said. He looked down at himself, his clothing. It wasn't the traditional Kavi of the Air Nomads. It was something the likes of which he'd never seen before. A grey poncho over loose white pants. Around his neck was a symbol he couldn't recognize. "I mean, look at what I'm wearing!"

"You _may_ have lost faith in your path," Gyatso said calmly, kindly, "but if you cannot believe in yourself, believe in those who believe in you. They come for you, Aang. They will never abandon you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Your body is in dire peril," Gyatso said serenely. "But you will be fine. A friend is coming. Somebody that the denizens of this Spirit world have never seen the like."

Aang was about to ask who, but the surface he was sitting upon began to tilt, and he began to slide away. His eyes went wide, and his fingers scrabbled at the tiles, but they were smooth enough that he could do no better than slow his slide a bit. Gyatso remained rooted in place, watching as Aang slid away. "Help me!"

"You must have faith, Aang," Gyatso said. "This place is not what it seems."

Aang couldn't do anything but slide away. And then, the surface was gone, and he was tumbling through void. It felt like he fell for an unthinkable time, his eyes pressed closed in fear. Then, he landed on something. It hurt, but not as badly as he thought it would. The surface he landed on was warm, and seemed to tremble, as though with pulse. Aang opened his eyes. It was as though he were lying on a great brown stone, but the ground had a texture almost like flesh, and it was warm to the touch. He looked around. The plane he rested on was uneven, and extremely large, but had a definite end-point. Where was he? Then, as all airbenders eventually do, he looked up.

A bestial face, large as a mountain, was staring at him.

* * *

Sokka opened his eyes, then quickly glanced around the place where he'd appeared. The sky was golden, and silver clouds hung against it. The ground was swampy, and above him was an ornamental gate. He looked down at himself, checking to see what he'd brought with him. He found his boomerang instantly, of course, and his Space Sword on the other hip. But he also found that he was wearing a long, heavy white coat. Rifling through the pockets found dozens of unspeakable inventions, things he had pondered but never thought to bring to existence. Things he thought impossible, or at the least, extremely difficult.

"I should come here more often," Sokka noted. He began to slosh forward through the bog, through the banyan trees which stood stock still, even when he felt a breeze push against him. Ahead, he could hear voices, but he couldn't tell what they were saying. He moved toward them, having no better idea where to start looking. When Sokka finally pushed through the brush, he beheld a monkey in fine robes, casually tossing a stick away.

"Finally," the monkey said. He turned toward Sokka, then sighed. "There is no end to my distractions today, is there?"

"Who were you talking to?" Sokka asked.

"Some human," the monkey said dismissively. "Now leave me alone. I must meditate."

"I don't have time to sit around thinking!" Sokka shouted. "Aang's in trouble!"

"And what am I to do about it?" the monkey asked. "I seek spiritual perfection, not to embroil myself in the affairs of others. Such distractions disrupt my meditations."

"Do you know where the Avatar is?" Sokka asked.

"Go. Away."

"Not until you tell me what you know."

"And if I know nothing?" the monkey asked.

"Then you really have no idea how to stop wasting your own time," Sokka said. "Do you know where the Avatar is or not?"

"Yes," the monkey said. And not one word more.

"Bear in mind that I'm considered _extremely_ annoying where I come from," Sokka pointed out. "Are you sure you're going to be pig-headed about this?"

The monkey rolled his eyes. "Fine. He has been taken by Koh from the Forest of Energy. He is probably in the Face Stealer's domain right now," the monkey shifted in his meditative pose. "If you want to try to retrieve him, then you must show far greater composure than I'm sure you're capable of. If the Face Stealer sees an expression on the face of any creature, mortal or spirit, he is compelled to take it. He enjoys his nature. Now follow the shadows. They will take you to him."

"See, that wasn't so bad."

"Go. Away." Sokka shook his head with a smirk as he left the monkey behind. It let out a sigh of relief when Sokka walked away. Just as the Tribesman walked out of view, though, he heard the creature let out a bellow of annoyance. "Must everybody come to speak with me today?"

It wasn't Sokka's problem, and Aang was in danger. He had a job to do. The title might have been a sarcastic joke, given to aggrandize himself to a Princess, but the truth had followed after it. Sokka was the Avatar's guardian now. Even though Aang was about as powerful a being as could exist in the world, he couldn't do everything. And when a plan was needed, when common sense had to speak, Sokka was there. As he walked, he noticed that as the monkey had said, the shadows were beginning to grow longer as he moved, as though the sun were setting. But that was impossible, because despite golden sky, there was no sun here. The realm was lit with a suffusive, omnipresent light. It was almost as though the shadows were... pointing.

Sokka was a hunter, a soldier, and a thinker. When given an obvious problem, seek the simplest solution. But there was another problem. He'd seen Koh before. Felt his presence. If the monkey wasn't being needlessly disingenuous, then Sokka stood a very good chance of getting his face ripped off. And he understandably didn't like that idea. But it might work to his advantage. Not the his face being ripped off part. How would that possibly work? He pondered for a moment, looking around his environment. Observations showed that everything followed rules. Magic would be trotted out to tell the future, often wrongly, but science could tell you when it would rain, and even why. The Spirit world had to follow rules, like the physical. And Sokka needed to exploit those rules. He was a Tribesman. Exploiting the environment is what Tribesmen do best.

He walked along the pointing fingers of shadows, noting how each was longer than the last, always pointing in one direction, which he followed without fail. He didn't know how much time he had. Aang was an excitable kid. It was only a matter of time until he did something dopey and gave Koh the opening it needed. Wheels turned in Sokka's head. A glance downward stymied him. He always considered himself the meat and sarcasm guy, the one with the boomerang and the pessimistic attitude. But he wasn't wearing Water Tribe clothes. Or in fact clothes that he could recognize. At some point, he stopped being the Sokka who stood on the walls of his village and tried to fight the Fire Nation all by himself, and became somebody else.

An idea began to percolate in his mind, and his hands began to rummage through his pockets. It was crazy. Absolutely insane. Probably not going to work. Likely going to get him killed. But if it worked, he'd have rights to smugness for the rest of his life. He began to combine the bits and pieces in his pockets as he walked. This was going to have to work the first time, or not at all. Koh didn't seem like the sort of entity to give second chances.

* * *

Aang stared in wonder, at that face as large as the entire mountain he'd grown up on. It was a lion's blunt face, a frill of red and blue mane. Teeth, each as long as _ten_ _dragons_ each lying tail to snout_, _peeked out from its lips. Beyond it, Aang could see a shell, larger than the whole of Greater Ba Sing Se, vanishing impossibly into the distance. What he was standing on was a single knuckle of its paw. This creature, if it were in the Mortal world, would take up almost an tenth of the planet.

It was a lion turtle. The largest creature ever to exist, so long thought vanished that they had faded into myth and legend. Aang, the Avatar, the most powerful human being alive, felt as though he were an insect in the presence of a god. It opened its mouth, and bolts of lightning larger than any which could exist in the world leapt between its lips. Eyes turned and looked down at Aang, somehow seeing him, despite the unspeakable difference in scale between the two beings.

"I can't believe this," Aang said. "I never thought I would ever see one of your kind. I thought they were all gone."

AFTER THE CREATION OF THE WORLD, WE DISCOVERED THERE WAS NO PLACE LEFT FOR US IN IT. SO WE MOVED DEEPER. WE BECAME A DREAM WITHIN THE SPIRIT.

The voice which came from the creature was so overwhelming that it drove Aang to his knees. Every twitch of its lips sent arcs of lightning, blue and snapping between them. Aang got back to his feet, shaking the vibrations out of his body. "Maybe you can help me," Aang said. "Everybody, even my own past lives say that I have to kill a man to end a war. But I know that I can't do it. I cannot break my vow! What will I do?"

THERE ARE ALWAYS OPTIONS, CHILD OF THE FOUR. LOOK INSIDE YOURSELF. WHAT IS IT THAT YOU WANT. WHAT DO YOU HOLD CLOSEST?

"I don't know," Aang said, confused. "I don't understand the question."

THE CHILD OF FOUR FEARS THE THUNDER, BUT IT SHOULD ONLY _RESPECT_ THE LIGHTNING. THERE ARE THINGS WHICH ARE OLDER THAN BENDING ITSELF. THERE ARE PATHS WHICH ALL HAVE CONSIDERED FORGOTTEN. THINGS ONLY VANISH _IF WE LET THEM_.

Aang became desperate. "Please, I need your wisdom! I don't understand your metaphors! I need something I can use against Fire Lord Ozai so that I don't need to take his life," his breath quickened. "If I take him alive, he will _never_ stop being a threat. If I kill him, then I'm no better than he is, a failure as an Avatar and as a human being. There must be another way!" The lion turtle's other paw began to rise out of the oblivion, moving swiftly toward Aang. It drove a wind before it, and Aang had to brace himself against it so he wasn't blown away. It came to a halt, the claw which tapered to a point like a knife touching ever so gently on the center of Aang's chest.

THE TRUE HEART CAN TOUCH THE POISON OF HATRED WITHOUT BEING HARMED.

The claw moved up, touching lightly on Aang's brow.

THE TRUE MIND CAN WEATHER ALL OF THE ILLUSIONS AND LIES OF THIS WORLD WITHOUT BEING LOST.

The lion turtle's claw then moved just a bit higher, tapping Aang right at the crown of his head.

SINCE TIME OUTSIDE TIME, DARKNESS THRIVES IN THE VOID. BUT IT ALWAYS SURRENDERS TO THE PURIFYING LIGHT.

Aang felt something slam into him, not a physical force, but a sense of understanding, of completeness. It was almost as though some part of him which he had never even seen before had finally awakened, and was ready. A sense of calm, of peace settled onto him. A smile, unsteady but firm, came to Aang's face. The lion turtle's claw moved away. The eyes, each the size of Omashu, blinked once.

GO TO HIM. THE TIME HAS COME.

And then, Aang felt himself waking up.

* * *

Sokka looked at that tree, masked in living shadows, rotted and dead and massive. He had what he needed... at least he thought he did. But now, he had to be brave. No, that wasn't it. As Toph would have put it, he needed 'to ratchet his balls and get ready for a beating'. It was at moments like this that Sokka regretted the unfortunate and untimely demise of Positive Sokka. He took a breath, and flattened his face into an empty mask. This world had rules, and Sokka was going to use them.

As Sokka entered the great tree, he heard a clattering sound, chitin moving against dead wood and brushing against chitin while doing it. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he made very sure not to let his eyes widen in surprise when he beheld the figure coiled near the center of the structure. It was massive, an oversized centipede. But instead of the antenna and mandibles, it had a structure at its front rather like an eye. The eye opened, and a woman Tribesman's face appeared out of it, as the bulk shifted away from whatever it was watching before, and now noted Sokka's ingress.

"Now this is an unexpected delight," Koh said, its malevolent, extremely male voice dissonant coming out of the woman's mouth. "I find myself with not just the Avatar, but a curiosity as well. Destiny seems to favor me today."

"You're going to let Aang go," Sokka said.

"...perhaps," Koh said. "Perhaps if you give me something more... worthwhile, I'll consider it. I might even agree to it."

"What do you want?"

"Your secret," Koh said. The eye blinked, and an Air Nomad man now stared out, arrow tattoo pointing down at blue eyes. "The one you've locked away, not just from everybody else, but from yourself as well."

"I have no secret," Sokka said, making extremely sure not to let his confusion show on his face. He really didn't. "I'm just a guy with a sword and a boomerang."

"And yet here you are," Koh said, beginning to move toward Sokka. It's long body began to coil around him, and that face stared at him. "You didn't really believe you became _rational_ and _scientific_ for no reason, did you? You were running away from something. Trying to deny something which is in your very blood."

"I am what I am," Sokka said, tracking Koh with his eyes. The massive bulk of the creature made it impossible to see what Koh had been observing earlier. "And if I'm hiding a secret from myself, then there's not really much point in looking for it, since I'm not going to be able to find it."

"Have you ever wondered about bending, Tribesman?" Koh asked. "Such a new thing in the world. Only a few tens of thousands of years old," Koh leaned closer, its face changing again, to the parchment complected, green eyed face of a woman of Ba Sing Se. "It's not genetic. You don't understand the rules, but there are rules. I know them. Have you ever wondered how it was possible that the South Water Tribe _stopped_ producing waterbenders?"

"I can't say that I have," Sokka admitted.

Koh stopped for a moment, then erupted into laughter. "I see it now. I understand. You hid it well, Tribesman. Almost well enough that it would be buried forever. The South Water Tribe _never_ stopped producing waterbenders. But the minds of the people were afraid. They hid their talents from themselves so well that they never even knew that they had the spark. There is an entire generation of waterbenders _who never were_. How lovely."

"You're blathering nonsense," Sokka said, preparing himself.

"And you have outlived your usefulness as an intellectual curiosity!" Koh shouted, his eye shifting to show a white and grey mask, and annoyed look on his features. Sokka quickly brought up the device, pulling off the cap over the lens, then slamming it back in place. Koh looked a touch confused.

"Talking time is over. I'm not the issue here," Sokka said, resisting urgently the compulsion to smirk. He pulled the plate from the back of the device he'd created. "You are going to give me the Avatar, and then he and I are going to leave."

"And why would I do that, little human?" Koh leaned very close. Sokka held up the plate.

"You want my face?" Sokka asked. Koh looked to Sokka's hand. "Too bad. I have yours."

"What do you mean?" Koh sounded a bit apprehensive.

"Stealing faces isn't something that you're just capable of. It's part of what you are," Sokka said. "It's the rule that you can't not follow. If you see expression you _have to_ steal the face. And on this plate is your face, your expression. How much are you willing to wager that if I open this plate..." Sokka almost smirked. Almost. "Well, it would be interesting to see what happens if I do."

Koh recoiled. "You're lying."

"Look into my eyes, Koh," Sokka said, fighting hard to keep his face plain. "I am Sokka of the South Water Tribe, son of Hakoda and Kya. I'm the guardian of the Avatar. I brought flight to the grounded. I am the only man to ever win an Agni Kai without being a firebender. I broke people out of an inescapable prison. Mine is a mind that changes the course of civilizations. You have no idea what I'm capable of, and how far I'm willing to go," Sokka leaned forward, the plate with Koh's stolen image in his hand. "You stole my friend's face, a lifetime ago, so don't expect me to pull any punches. Give me the Avatar, or I'll see what happens when you have to steal your own face."

Koh blinked, and the face which appeared was a blue, tusked oni's face. "This isn't over between us."

"Yes, it is," Sokka said. Koh turned, and in that moment, Sokka allowed himself a grin of victory. Koh almost immediately turned back, but by the time he had, that mask a finger away from Sokka's face, Sokka had schooled himself back to an expressionless mask of his own. "This is your last warning, Koh."

"Very well. Take the Avatar," Koh said. There was a sound, like wind whipping through the tree, and the structure around them began to break apart and drift away like tiny scraps of cloth in a gale. Koh vanished into a cloud of dust which wafted away. The entire tree vanished, leaving only Sokka and Aang, both of them atop a perfect hexagon lying on the swampy ground. Momo was curled up in Aang's lap. Sokka smiled, and handed the plate over to Aang. He wouldn't know what it was, but it would be enough to keep Koh away. Deep in the back of Sokka's mind, he had two thoughts. What if Koh was right? It would require more effort to think about that later. The other thought, though, was 'How can I make another one of these photographic cameras in the Mortal world?' It would be a shame if it could only be built here.

Sokka slumped down on the hexagon, and prepared to give Aang a light shove, but as soon as his knees hit the stone, he felt his eyes slide open. Ty Lee was staring at him, a hand's breadth away from his face. She let out a yelp of surprise, and Sokka did too. He glanced around, feeling oddly rested, despite his nerve-wracking encounter with the Face Stealer. "I'm back?"

"Yeah," Ty Lee said. "I take it you couldn't find him?"

"Why do you think that?" Sokka asked.

"You've only been under for about twenty minutes," Toph said. She was still getting ready for her trip with Suki. How could that be possible. It felt like he was in there for hours. But then he remembered, the Spirit world operated under different rules than the Mortal. He quickly got to his feet, glancing around. Suki, garbed in her full battle regalia, was still preparing the Giant Eel Hound.

"I found him," Sokka said. For some reason, Sokka felt a bit odd. Rested, alert, but like something _wasn't quite right_ with his skin. "He was taken by Koh, the Face Stealer."

Suki's eyes went wide at that, and she turned. "I guess that means..."

"I beat him," Sokka said. Suki was agape. "Aang is safe. I don't know where he is, but he's safe."

"You... beat the Face Stealer?" Suki asked.

"Outsmarted him," Sokka said. He shook his head. "Don't we have a job to do?"

"Well," Toph said. "You can come along if you like. Couldn't hurt having an insane genius on our side when we take down the airship fleet."

"Then we ride," Sokka said, a grin on his face. He quickly snapped a few kinks out of his neck and back, walking toward the Eel Hound with a certainty and purpose that he was fairly certain he had never felt before in his life. He could do this. He would do this. Behind him, he heard Toph speak again.

"You know, you should count yourself lucky you grabbed him up when you did," Toph said to Ty Lee. "'Cause if you hadn't, I'd be tempted to jump him after pullin' something like that."

Sokka couldn't help but laugh. The three women piled onto the back of the creature. "There isn't anything faster over land or swimming in the sea than a Giant Eel Hound," Ty Lee said, clinging tight to Sokka's back. "Don't worry. We'll get there in time."

"Yeah," Toph said from behind Suki. "Just in time for the Comet to arrive."

"We're still going to win this," Sokka said.

"How can you be sure?" Suki asked.

Sokka looked back at the descendant of Kyoshi, a smirk on his face. "Because I have faith." With that, Sokka spurred the beast to a run, and the world began to flash by. Iroh was right. Today, destiny was their friend.

* * *

_Next time, on "The Burning Dawn"_

_Aang stands, a thrusting finger of stone under his bare feet. Ozai stands across from him. Everybody had been waiting for him for so long. The time for waiting was over._

_"Stop this," Aang pleads, one final time. "You can still stop this. If you don't, it will end badly."_

_Ozai smirks, and fire drips from his fists. Sozin's Comet stares down from the heavens as he laughs. "You're right. It will end badly. For you."_

_Leave a review._


	20. Sozin's Comet: A Burning Dawn

**You may have noticed that when I wrote this entire series, I had a very clear grasp of the language that I was going to use. While the T rating was in place to allow for implication and mild profanity, there is a concept called the Precision F Strike. My rule is that if you drop that bomb, it's because you weren't being creative enough. Then something comes along when a character breaks that rule for you. Sometimes, despite every intention otherwise, the state of mind a character embodies is so beyond control that as an author, if I try to control it, I am doing it disservice. In her defense, she's earned it.**

**Clarifying something: for a bender to be a bender, he or she requires two things. One is the spark, that which makes one a bender. It doesn't care what sort of bender you become, it isn't genetic, but it does follow certain rules, as Koh implied. The other is the drive. The drive takes the spark and gives it shape. If a child's destiny is split in twain, and in one, he is given to the Water Tribes, in the other, the Earth Kingdoms, then in one destiny, he will become a waterbender, in the other, an earthbender. Society, culture determines what sort of bender a person develops into. A war-bastard like Benell, who is phenotypically a Sozu, but raised by Sedna and Ogan in the South Water Tribes, could only be a waterbender.**

**And just tell me you can't figure out who the Empress is, now.**

* * *

Secretariat Han's footfalls sounded across the obsidian floors of the Fire Lord's throneroom. Unlike his contemporaries, eight in number and arrayed behind him, his feet didn't bear the usual stone shoes, nor his hands the stone gloves. Han always preferred a more pure earthbending style, one dependent less on cheap tricks and more on skill and experience, something he had more than his fair share of.

Han's breathing was quick when he quickly dropped to a knee before Azula. Her hair was undone, and she stared down at him, her back to one of the pillars holding up the canopy over her head. "We came as soon as we heard your demand," Han said simply. "What is it you wish?"

"Do you know how long you took to get here?" Azula asked, her eye twitching as she spoke.

Han's one good eye narrowed as he glanced up at her. "A minute, perhaps two. We did not tarry."

"Two minutes," Azula said bitingly. "And another to make sure that the message reached you. In three minutes, an assassin could put a knife in my neck and be on his merry way long before you arrived."

"As long as your guardians remained with you, no assassin would have that chance," Han said honestly. Part of the Dai Li's original purpose, set forth by Avatar Kyoshi herself, was the protection of the Earth Kingdom's royal family and its antiquities from harm. Han glanced to where the discrete agents would be hiding, but his eye widened when he couldn't find them. "Where are they? There are supposed to be agents with you at all times for your own safety."

"I had them banished," Azula said, looking away from Han. And, in fact, anything corporeal. "Always... watching me. Scrutinizing, spying. Waiting for the moment to strike. To betray me..."

"The Dai Li would never betray you," Han said, and with perfect accuracy. Most of the agents in the city were _terrified_ of her. Azula turned to him, her golden eyes blazing. If Han were a less steady man, he might have soiled himself under such a dangerous glare. But Han was steady. He had looked Long Feng in the eye as a White Lotus Initiate on the day of the Coup, even as the Order was still the most hated enemy of the state. The others, bowing lower behind him, were visibly shaken, however.

"I'm sure that's just what you said to Long Feng before you killed him," Azula shouted. Han leaned back. So she didn't know? The truth was, _nobody_ knew where Long Feng was. He had vanished into the wind after the Coup. Azula stood, her eyes flashing. "You're all banished!"

"What do you mean?" Han asked.

"You will leave the palace by the end of the hour," Azula said, her eye continuing to twitch. "You will leave the city by the end of tomorrow, and you will leave this nation by the end of the week. Or else you will die in flames."

Han took a cleansing breath, then offered a polite nod. Grand Lotus Iroh had been right. She was not cleaving to power well. In fact, it was tearing her apart. Not willing to test his admittedly mediocre abilities against what most agreed was the most powerful bender on the planet, Han turned on his heel and began to walk away. Following Han's unspoken order, the others that had accompanied him joined, and their clacking footfalls followed him away from the throneroom.

"Do remember to send in the next group as you leave," Azula said. He cast a glance back at her as he reached the threshold. She had lowered herself back against the pillar, and the flames mounted quite high, glowing that unusual blue in the trough. She didn't seem like a Fire Lord. She looked like a terrified child. But all she'd done was make Han's job easier. Today, the Dark Prince would return. And they would be ready for him.

* * *

Hakoda looked down at the army of the Fire Nation, at its toehold on the beach, and the great navy parked in the harbor of Kad Deid. Beside him, Jei was patting his hand comfortingly. On his other side, Chit Sang was stretching his muscles, clad in the light grey armor of the Whalesh. "This is it, isn't it?" Jei asked, giving Hakoda a glance.

"All that matters is that we fight our greatest fight, and give them a battle that will echo the eternity," Hakoda said. His father had taught him, after losing his wife to the Raiders a generation back, that nothing but unshakable resolve and unhesitating brutality could keep him alive once the battle had begun. It was for after the battle's end that the time for kind words, diplomacy, and wisdom to return. The Water Tribes were cold, but in battle, they had to burn hottest of all. _Burn_. It was strange. In their language, despite all logic saying otherwise, burn was a word which was almost holy. It was something they had in common with this current enemy.

"There are many battles which will be fought this day," a new voice came. Hakoda turned, and beheld a woman approaching. She, like Jei, wore a version of Whalesh armor, but hers was obviously of utmost master construction. Her face was concealed behind a silver mask. "At this moment, Grand Lotus Iroh takes the Order of the White Lotus to war at the gates of Ba Sing Se. The White Lotus gathers to set _her_ free. Lotus Suki of the Kyoshi Warriors strikes down a fleet of airships poised to end the world in flames," she said. Hakoda was stunned that she would be here. Despite his sheltered culture, Hakoda made sure to know the movers and shakers in this world.

The Empress of Great Whales was standing next to him, looking down at the waters, where the people began to gather. She glanced over to him, and the mask couldn't keep the light from catching in golden eyes. "Can we win this? Really?" Hakoda asked.

"Today, destiny is our friend," the Empress said, turning back toward the sky, near the sun. She began to breath deeply. "Do you feel it, firebenders?"

Jei and Chit Sang were also staring up toward the sun, rapt and eyes wide. "I do... it's incredible," Chit Sang said.

"Only once in a hundred years can a firebender experience this kind of power," the Empress said, her tones distant, almost euphoric. As she spoke, a red blotch began to appear in the sky, angry against he noon sky. It was so tiny. Could this be the storied Sozin's Comet? Hakoda was not impressed. "You should go to your men, Hakoda," the Empress continued. She then let out a deep breath, and a jet of fire streamed out of the mask, melting away part of the stylized mouth. Hakoda's eyes went wide, but then his attention was dragged to the firebenders below.

The largest flames he'd ever seen in his life were being blasted up from those ships, to the face of the Imperial Palace. The Empress took a step forward, twisting her arms before her. With a grunt of effort, she cast her arms apart, and an unspeakably large wall of fire surged away from her, catching and deflecting all of the attacks, before coming to a halt in the distance. Hakoda gaped. The Empress of Great Whales, a nation of waterbenders... was a firebender.

"To your men, Chief Hakoda," the Empress said, a smirk on her painted lips. "It will not be benders alone who win this day."

* * *

Zuko let out a shuddering breath as he felt the path of chi, the source of all energy which flowed through him, open up as though a great dam had burst. If he hadn't already been sitting down on Appa's head, he might have stumbled. Chong Sheng uncoiled himself from Zuko's neck, and began to crawl into the back of the saddle, peeping uncomfortably. Zuko looked up. The red mark of Sozin's Comet had arrived, close to the sun, more heat in the universe.

"It's here," Zuko said. Mai nodded, but her expression was one of lethal focus. He didn't know what was going through her head right now, and he was almost afraid to ask.

"That's it?" Katara asked.

"It gets bigger," Mai said flatly. Katara moved to Zuko's other side.

"Don't worry," Katara said, laying a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We can take Azula."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Zuko said.

"The Avatar will get over his shakes," Mai said. "He'll deal with Ozai."

"It's not that either," Zuko said. Mai shot him a glare. He shook his head. "And it's not _that_, trust me." They were going to fight his sister. No, that wasn't even it. They were expected to _kill_ his little sister. The little girl who he used to play Hide-And-Explode with. The girl who brought him sweets from the kitchen when he was still too weak to walk. The girl who said his name – Zuzu – first, before 'mother' or 'father'. "I don't know if I can do this. She's still my sister."

"She's the Fire Lord and she's the enemy," Mai said simply. "Do you think she'd hesitate to kill you?"

"There has to be another way," Zuko said quietly. Despite everything, despite all of the rancor and all of the pettiness. Despite the numerous assassination attempts, even, she was still his little sister. And he didn't want to hurt her. It didn't make sense... but there it was.

* * *

Azula fumed, sitting with her back to the fluted pillar. Without even really realizing it, she was worrying her thumbnail between her teeth. It was the only nail left that she hadn't bitten down to the nailbed. The fire had been pulled out of the trough into a ring, tight around the canopy. Her eyes shot around the room with every noise, real or imagined, that hit her ears. _Everybody_ was trying to hurt her.

You don't deserve to be this unhappy.

The voice had changed tactics. Ever since she'd been named Fire Lord, it stopped battering at her, telling her that she was a monster, that nobody would ever love her. Instead it was... lying. She didn't understand why. She didn't care. It wasn't worth thinking about. It wasn't real. Mother thought she was a monster. Everybody did. And there was only one thing people were supposed to do with monsters.

"Fire Lord Azula, we heard about what happened. Why have you banished all of your servants?"

"All of your Dai Li agents, and the Imperial firebenders?" Lo and Li asked, entering the room. Azula's painted lips tightened into a scowl. It took her two tries to get her lips looking right this morning. Two. She actually failed to _put on her own makeup_. She didn't understand how.

"They couldn't be trusted. None of them could. They were all just waiting to betray me," Azula said. Her voice began to quaver. "Just like Mai and Ty Lee did."

"Azula, we are concerned for your wellbeing," Lo and Li said in unison. Azula's eyes snapped to them. They looked deferential, but it was an act. Nobody told her the truth anymore. Everything anybody said to her was a lie. That was the only thing which made sense. It burned at her that they didn't use her title. She was Fire Lord now. And they had snubbed her. What were they planning?

"My _father_ told you to come here, didn't he?" Azula snapped, rising to her feet. She felt a bit weak. When was the last time she ate? She wasn't sure. They would have _definitely_ tried poisoning her if she ate. She turned away, staring at the flames. "He thinks I can't handle the responsibility of the throne. But I'll show everybody. I'll be the greatest Fire Lord that the world has _ever seen_!"

"I'm sure you will. But in light of recent events,"

"It might be best if you postpone your coronation," Lo and Li said. Azula spun to them, her eyes wide with wrath.

"What? Which one of you said that?" she screamed. Each identical sister quickly pointed a finger at the other. Azula felt a smirk come to her face. "What a shame. There's only one way to resolve this properly. I order you to duel each other. You will fight an Agni Kai!"

The ancient twins shared a glance. "But we're not firebenders," they pointed out.

Azula let out a growl, azure flames puffing out with her breath. She could smell the silk robe at her bosom singeing from the heat. "Alright. Fine," Azula said. She pointed at one of them. "Lo, you are banished. Li, you can stay."

She turned away, retreating to the relative safety of the throne, and continued to worry at her thumbnail. There wasn't much left of it. If she had been listening, she would have heard the sisters say: "But I'm Li... so who's banished?"

* * *

Sokka bounded off the Eel Hound the instant it hit the shore. The ride had been long, but everybody looked too wired to rest. The things Koh had said swirled in his mind, but he was too busy trying to save the world to think about them. There'd be time for that later. And considering that the dark red blotch of Sozin's Comet now rested alongside the sun as it slid into the afternoon, it meant that their time was almost up. If the White Lotus taskforce couldn't shut down these airships now, it would be, quite literally, the end of the world.

"Did we make it in time?" Toph asked. The answer came when an unspeakably huge blast of fire shot up above the hill that obscured the fleet's landing place. Even Toph's eyes went wide. "...that's a lot of fire, isn't it?"

"They must know we're here," Suki said. "That means my force is already attacking. We don't have any time to waste."

Ty Lee bounded ahead of Sokka, reaching the crest of the hill even before Sokka could. But she wasn't up there long before she let out a panicked yelp, spinning her glider staff to partially deflect a blast of flame as she dove back into Sokka's arms. She had to toss her staff to the ground, since it glowed red hot. Rising up from the ground, at the far end of the site, was a massive form of an airship, bigger even than the ones he'd seen before. A solid gold crest of a lion turtle adorned the front of the flotation of that flagship; it could be none other than Ozai who was aboard it.

"We're too late!" Sokka shouted.

"Sokka, duck!" Ty Lee shifted her weight enough to make Sokka stumble, which wasn't strictly necessary, because the gargantuan blast of fire would have still missed him were he standing. A man came rocketing up onto the crest of the hill. The man was old, his white hair tied back. A scar ran up his cheek and eyebrow. A scar that Sokka had given him. It was Jeong Jeong.

"So the Tribesman comes to me at the end? I have always been a believer in Kismet."

"We shouldn't have just cast you out," Suki said, snapping open her fan and pulling her short sword. "We should have killed you so you could no longer poison the world."

"Ah, young Lotus," Jeong Jeong smirked. "Do you really think you stand a chance against me? Sozin's Comet has arrived, and you're not even a bender."

A flare of light lit up Suki's eyes, almost like she was entering the Avatar State, which was quite impossible... but then again, she'd done it before. During the Invasion of Chin. "This will be the third time I've fought a Royal Firemaster. I predict it will end the same as before," Suki and Kyoshi's voices overlapped each other. Of one body and one mind, they smirked. "Guardian, do your duty. This one is ours."

Sokka only gave a nod, before grabbing Toph's hand and running up the hill at an oblique to the empowered firebender, and whatever the hell Suki was at the moment. When he got to the top, he noticed that while a goodly number of the airships were grounded, their flotations torn open or burning, more than a dozen were rising into the sky. That handful, while not enough to _destroy_ the world, would do damage that would take generations to heal.

"They're already taking off!" Sokka said.

"Where's the nearest one?" Toph asked. Sokka pointed.

"Right there, but..." he was cut off when Toph took the initiative and slammed them upward with a rocket of earthbending. They soared through the air, arcing toward the fire deck of the nearest airship. Sokka's eyes began to grow wide, since the fire deck of this ship had been plated off, and they were heading straight into a wall. Ty Lee compensated, just a hint of airbending to send them through the relatively narrow gaps, then a cushion for them to land on.

"You people are going to give me a heart attack," Sokka muttered, lying on his back inside the Fire Nation airship. He had a job to do, however, and got to his feet. He glanced around. "Why isn't anybody here?"

"They're all gathered in the bomb-bays," Toph said, laying her hand to a wall. "And they're singing. I think somebody's having a birthday in there."

"Well, that means they won't be wandering the halls to get in our way," Ty Lee said brightly. "Come on!"

Sokka couldn't fight Ty Lee's enthusiasm. Without having to avoid anybody as they went up through the workings of the ship, they made great time to the helm. In this case, however, there was a great, metal door in the way. Sokka leaned over to Ty Lee. "Back at the last intersection there's a series of tubes. Block them up with air so nobody can hear this."

She gave her boyfriend a nod, then scampered off. He didn't actually tell her he was sending her away because the firebenders inside probably weren't going to survive, and he didn't want that on her conscience. He shared what could be called a knowing glance with Toph, and the metalbender turned, cracking her knuckles, to the door. She rapped on the door five times to an almost musical tune, a tilted square etched with her taps, then punctuated in the middle. Then, she lashed forward with a great punch, smashing the door off of its hinges and sending it flying into the room, smashing into somebody. There was a moment of shock, and then, Toph tipped forward, tearing up the deck-plating and wrapping herself in it as a suit of armor.

A gargantuan blast of fire shot out the door, causing Sokka to lean back for safety. When he leaned back in, the armor Toph had instantly created was glowing slightly but she looked otherwise unharmed. She twisted her iron-clad arms, and another chunk of the deck plating rose up, smashing the firebender through the window and off into the air. The last one lashed out with a hot blast of fire, this one not searing out the door, and Toph dodged it, sticking to the ceiling like a gecko. She moved a bit closer, then dropped, levying a hammer punch into the unprotected top of the man's unhelmeted head. Sokka entered, glancing around the carnage. The one under the door was definitely dead, and the last one would join him soon, after a head injury like that. The other might survive, but it was a long drop to the water. And the only thing on Sokka's mind was that he shouldn't let Ty Lee know about this.

"That was impressive," Sokka said.

"When ain't I?" Toph asked, peeling off her suit of plating.

"Clean up this mess," Sokka waved around him. "We can't have this getting in the way."

"Aye aye, captain," Toph said sarcastically, but to her credit, actually did remove all trace quickly that people died here. Sokka leaned back into the hall and called his girlfriend's name. She came bounding in an instant after Toph flipped the last plate on the floor, leaving the place looking scorched, battered, but unbloodied.

"Good work, everybody. Take the wheel," Sokka said.

"Right. Let the blind girl pilot the airship," Toph said.

"I was talking to Ty Lee."

"Oh, that makes more sense," Toph admitted, blushing.

"I don't know how to pilot this thing," Ty Lee admitted.

"Just hold the wheel thing steady," he stopped, rubbing an imaginary beard for a moment. There was still the entire crew to deal with. And a formation of other airships to bring down. And Ozai steadily gaining ground... well, sky... in his own airship.

"What are we going to do about the crew?" Toph asked, running a scarred hand along the pipe which ran communications throughout the ship. "They're not going to keep singing forever, and hotcakes can only distract people for so long."

Sokka scratched at the back of his head, then pointed to Toph. "You need to fill all of the furnaces to their capacity as fast as you can. They'll start to overheat and blow, but we're not going to be on this ship very long anyway," Sokka looked around, and located the communications horn which hung from the ceiling. "Ty Lee, bring us down toward the ocean. No, the other lever. That's the one."

Sokka pondered just a moment longer. This was going to be the performance of a lifetime. He cleared his throat, muttered a few profanities in various tongues to get the over-done Azuli accent right, then spoke into the horn. "Attention crew. This is Wang Fire. Listen carefully, my countrymen. We stand at a crossroads of destiny," Sokka said. He paused, feeling as though through osmosis the tension which immediately ran through the ship. "Ozai is a usurper, and his plans to destroy the world stand against everything I, and all of you, were raised to believe about this Fire Nation. We are part of the greatest civilization in the world. If there are no others to compare us to, then that claim is meaningless! Obviously, Ozai has gone mad, and it will fall to me to stop him."

"What the hell are you...?" Toph asked, but Sokka pointed her toward the bomb-bay lever.

"I will stop this atrocity, no matter what. But I cannot ask you all to come with me. This, my second treason, will be faced alone. Goodbye, my friends, my countrymen. It has been an honor to serve with you. It has been an honor, to be a son of the Fire." Sokka cupped a hand over the horn, and turned to Toph. "Pull it now!"

Toph pulled the lever, and Sokka leaned out the window. Falling the now relatively short distance to the water went every crew member still alive on this airship. "That was damned lucky, Loverboy," Toph commented.

"Wow. That was a nice speech," Ty Lee sounded impressed as she slowly brought the ship back up into the sky. Toph, now one of three occupants of the airship, went to fill the furnaces as Sokka had asked. "But that means that Wang Fire will get all the praise when we're done."

"I don't think Wang Fire is going to survive this one," Sokka said. He began to fiddle with the controls, but they couldn't seem to close distance on Ozai's flagship. He took a purging breath. "We're coming for you, Ozai."

* * *

Azula couldn't keep her hands from shaking. The palace was absolutely silent. Everybody was gone. The cooks. The messengers. The servants. The guards. They were all waiting to attack her, to take her place on the throne. She couldn't trust anybody. They all wanted her dead. They all wanted to slay the monster. Unsteadily, she gathered up her dripping hair, and tried to form a phoenix tail, but the hair kept slipping from her fingers, messing it up. This wasn't right! She'd gotten the best grades in her class at this! Something was wrong... somebody was sabotaging her.

She finally got her phoenix tail to stand properly, and tried binding it with a silk cord, but in the process, her fumbling fingers got stuck inside the knot, and pulling them out sent strands of hair out of place. She fought to keep her bangs even, to keep everything in its place, but everything just slipped away from her. She was losing control of everything!

"Enough!" she shouted. She snatched up a pair of scissors, grabbing her bangs with her other hand. "Alright, hair. It's time to face your doom!"

With one swipe of the shears, the offending fringe fell away. She stared up at her reflection in the mirror, and her eyes went wide. They were more uneven than ever! Why couldn't she do anything _right_?

"It's such a shame," Ursa said, standing close behind her. "You always had such beautiful hair."

"What are you doing here, mother?" Azula snapped. "Here to see your daughter miserable? Are you really that hateful?"

"I never wanted to see you sad," Ursa said. "You never deserved to be this unhappy. Even you know it. But you still won't let yourself be happy. Why not, Azula?"

"You're lying. You always hated me. You thought I was a monster!" Azula shouted.

"Who said that I did?" Ursa asked. She reached forward, and Azula felt a hand rest on her shoulder. "Ozai? You know how terrible a father he is. Don't you remember what he did to you? The things he did should never..."

"My _father _lo..." she couldn't complete the words, as tears began to well up in her eyes. Just thinking his name made her hurt. "Well, you didn't love me either! I had _nobody_!"

"He poisoned you against me," Ursa said, stepping back a bit. "I never stopped caring for you. I never abandoned _you_. You abandoned _me_."

"You're lying! All you ever do is lie!" Azula screamed. "I trusted you and you went away, left me behind..." where was she going with this? And how did she get onto this line of thought? "You were afraid of me, weren't you? Trust is for fools. Fear is the only reliable way to control people..."

"Ozai lied to you," Ursa said. "Ozai _always_ lies. He made you use fear to control your friends, Mai and Ty Lee. And you didn't need to. They _would have_ stayed with you."

"Then why did they leave me?" Azula asked, her voice beginning to break.

"Because fear is never enough. Only love will keep people together."

Azula's eyes snapped, tears beginning to fall. "That must be why you left. You never loved me; you feared me. The prodigy. The greatest firebender the world had ever seen. You were always terrified of what I was becoming."

"I _never_ feared you," Ursa stressed. She smiled, sadly. "I loved you. I still do. Everything about you. Nothing will ever change that, my darling daughter."

Azula felt a shard of terror, something she didn't understand but couldn't resist, compel her arm. She spun, hurling a heavy hand-mirror at her mother. It sailed through the air... and shattered on the floor. Ursa wasn't here. She never was. Azula slumped down to her knees. She was all alone. Nobody would ever love her again. Everybody hated her. On the abandoned floor of an empty palace, Azula began to weep.

* * *

Aang opened his eyes as the last layer of the dream fell away. He felt the stone under his legs and posterior, and the breeze of warm air running over his back. His grey eyes flit around, staring at his surroundings. It definitely wasn't a dream. He knew that for a fact. Because how else would he have fallen asleep on Ember Island and woken up amidst the Pillars of Heaven. Momo stirred, and scampered up to Aang's shoulder.

"We're back in the world, Gyatso," Aang said. The lemur chirped reproachfully. "Right. That was a different life. You're Momo now. I get it. So what do I do now?"

Aang swept his eyes across the horizon. The Pillars of Heaven were arrayed behind him, jutting stone a hundred bu tall or more. Those on the outskirts, like this one, were rough and eroded, but as one moved deeper into the forest of stone, the pillars became smoother, until it was almost as though they were crafted by the most cunning of mortal hands. But beyond that place was Wulong Forest, a spot he'd never gotten to come to during his year wandering the world with Katara and Sokka. He'd been called away by Fang, told what was coming. As Aang looked up at the sun, at Sozin's Comet laying next to it like a bleeding wound in the sky, he couldn't help but shudder for just a moment. But at the same time, he was as ready as he would ever get.

Aang's cunning eyes scanned the sea, and he saw something glinting gold against the setting sun. It was an airship. Not just any airship, either. As the Avatar, one who had gone bodily into the Spirit world, he knew that he would exit wherever destiny needed him. Ozai had come. Aang watched as even from that impossible distance, a fan of fire, ten times the size of the airship it originated from exploded into being, sweeping across the ground, searing Wulong Forest to ashes. Aang turned to Momo, the beast who waited. So many people were waiting for Aang. Waiting for lifetimes, waiting for him to end this war.

Aang was done waiting.

"It's time to go," Aang said. Momo took wing, and began to fly away, joining the thousands of birds who fled in terror from the Fire Lord's merciless assualt. Aang took a deep breath, then dropped into a low stance, thrusting his arms forward and flaring. Much of the column he was standing on exploded forward out from under his feet. Even as the pillar began to crumble, he flicked his other hand, and the massive stone which moved at stupendous speeds was snapped into three parts, tearing the engines off of the airship even from two li away. Even Toph couldn't have made that shot.

But Toph wasn't the Avatar.

The flagship listed, and the fan of fire cut off as the ship drifted. Aang turned as the ship slid sideways past him, and beheld the Fire Lord, casting off his golden armor and his robes. Fire erupted from his hands and feet, and he bounded off of his crashing aircraft, landing on a pillar not far from Aang. The ship smashed into the pillars, only its massive size keeping it held aloft on the many columns. Aang breathed deep, steadying his nerves. The Fire Lord was right here. He didn't look how Aang expected him to. Despite having a drawing made of noodles in the back of Appa's saddle, he always expected there to be some grotesquery to the Fire Lord, something indicating his inherent evil. As Ozai landed on the pillar, and began to chuckle, his crashed aircraft groaning behind him, Aang finally knew what it was. Ozai would never show any flaw on himself, but he didn't need to bear the mark of his cruelty for it to be obvious.

The mark of Ozai's cruelty was on _Zuko's_ face.

"Three generations of Fire Lords have searched for you, Avatar," Ozai said, his voice carrying easily over the distance. "For one hundred years, you managed to elude us, but now the universe delivers you to me as an act... of... provenance."

He was mad. He thought _he_ was the universe. "Please," Aang said. "We don't need to fight. You have the power to end this war peacefully and stop this insanity before it's too late. There can still be balance in the world. Don't do this, Fire Lord. It will end badly."

"There are only two parts of what you said which were accurate, Avatar," Ozai said, smiling cruelly. "I have all the power in the world. _I am the world_. And this world has no place for you. You were right. It will end badly. For you."

Ozai raged forward, blasts of flame bright as the sun and long as a river streaming toward Aang. If Aang were a firebender, he would have faced that overwhelming strength with strength of his own, enhanced as it was by Sozin's Comet. But Aang wasn't a firebender, or rather, he wasn't only one. Before water, before fire, before earth, he was an airbender. And the easiest way to deal with an attack was to not be there when it landed.

Despite the problematic lack of his staff, and his admitted lack of about ninety percent of the truly impressive high level airbending abilities, now vanished to history, he was the greatest airbender of his age. This age. A simple bound into the sky, a blast of air under him to send him rocketing away as the three pillars of flame smashed the column he had been standing on. A thrust of his arms sent that smashed pillar sliding whole into the perch of Ozai. Now without purchase to stand on, he plummeted, but only briefly before he ignited the flames under his extremities, and began to rocket toward Aang. Aang reached toward the rivers flowing through the Pillars out to the forest, and with a motion he'd learned from Toph, he snapped three fingers with a flick of his hand, and the water moved far faster than Katara could ever get it. Which made sense in a perverse way. Aang was the Avatar.

The flashing water caught Ozai up, but he was only thrown off his course briefly, before righting himself and lashing out with a pair of powerful blasts of fire. Aang called up the pillar as his feet reached it, allowing its mass to withstand the blasts, before he punched outward, large chunks of it slamming toward Ozai. The Fire Lord dodged them easily.

"So this is the master of the elements?" Ozai taunted. "I'm not impressed. My son fought better than you, and I crushed him too!"

* * *

Sokka stared through the spyglass as the flagship, so far ahead of the rest of the fleet as to almost vanish into the distance, had its engines explode and begin to list helplessly into the Pillars of Heaven. Sokka's heart leapt up into his throat. "Yeah Aang! Aang's back! Airbending _slice_!"

"What are you talking about?" Toph asked. "You may not have noticed, Captain Boomerang, but I can't see anything outside of this big hunk of metal."

"What about the others? There's... like... a dozen more of them back there," Ty Lee asked, looking very nervous as she tried to keep the ship steady. Despite the engines burning so hot Sokka was sure they were going to melt, they hadn't been able to gain more than a few airship lengths on the abdicated Fire Lord.

Sokka rubbed his chin, trying to get an idea to come together. They didn't have anybody to man the cannons, and Toph's metalbending still required her to come into contact with what she was working with. And Ty Lee was a quarter trained airbender at best. But all Sokka had was his Space Sword and his boomerang... and an overheating airship.

His eyes widened. Of course. Every airship was heavily armored on the bottom, but had almost nothing protecting the top. He turned to Ty Lee. "_Airship_ slice!" he shouted. Both women stared at him like he'd just crapped his pants. "Ty Lee, step aside. I've been overthinking this. Cannons and tactics and strategies, but the fact is, we're not intending to hold onto this airship. That makes it a big battering ram."

"A what?" Toph asked. Right. She'd probably never even _heard_ of a benderless siege in her life. Instead of filling her in on the details, Sokka began to turn the ship around to the edge of the line. It was damned lucky that he'd spent all that time familiarizing himself with the airship that they'd stolen from Avalanche. If he hadn't, then he probably would have flown this thing straight into the water. The first ship in the line, flying through the air like a pincer formation, lined up under Sokka's eyes. They'd only be able to take out half the ships in this pass, and he doubted he'd get a second.

"Alright, everybody get to the top of the ship!" Sokka shouted.

"Then what?" Ty Lee asked. Sokka pulled her in for a brief kiss, and Toph rolled her eyes.

"I'll figure that out when we get there."

The three teenagers scrambled up the ladders to the highest point on the ship, and Toph opened a path to the exterior. Before anybody even got off the ladders, there was a horrendous crash and lurch, as their stolen airship made its first impact. Toph hauled the two of them out of the unstable hole just as the ladder began to give way, and they lay for just a moment on the spongy mesh which covered the top of the flotation. Behind, Sokka watched as now the second of the airships, its vital structures ruptured, began to crash land into the edge of Wulong Forest.

The third great impact began to send cracks issuing across the surface, a shriek as metal parted against metal. Sokka pulled Toph to her feet. "Come on, guys, I think we need to run!" The group began to sprint, but the impacts kept coming as the now dead airship blindly smashed through the line, taking out firebending ship after firebending ship. And the damage was showing. Sokka stumbled as the last ship began to loom, and Ty Lee stopped next to him. "Keep going!"

Ty Lee didn't dignify that with a response. She looked ahead, as the bow of the ship, with its lion turtle figure, began to snap off under Toph's feet. Ty Lee grabbed onto Sokka's arms, twisted, and heaved, and he found himself flying through the air, empowered by her airbending, landing just on the other side of a wide fissure as the airship broke into parts. Sokka shook his head to clear the impact, then looked back. Ty Lee was standing on the ship which was quickly falling into the distance. "Ty Lee!"

"I'll be okay! Stop the airships!" Ty Lee shouted, her voice carrying the distance easily.

"No!" Sokka shouted. But he could almost see her amused grin.

"I'm fine! I am an airbender, after all!" Ty Lee finished. Oh. Right.

"Captain, I think we need to jump!" Toph said, her blind eyes wide as the prow finally broke off and began to drop. Sokka gathered the small woman up and began to run. He hoped this wasn't another doomed Sokka-plan. He'd had enough of those.

* * *

"With these clouds, we'll never see him coming," a Dai Li agent complained. Dai Li never complained, not usually, but today, nobody here was truly a Dai Li agent. Not even Han, who stood with those of his men who hadn't taken Azula's banishment to heart. As much as he would personally like to see this city burnt to the ground, like so many had in the East Continent, he had made a promise. Han was always one to fulfill his promises.

"Her coronation begins soon," Han said. "We must move forward on the assumption that he will be in time to stop it. Spread the word, the Dark Prince returns."

The Dai Li all nodded to him, and began to filter away into the streets. Another group was waiting near the Fire Court, a few blocks away. While the crater-city was built atop hard volcanic stone, much of the building was done in wood. Wood burned. And he didn't doubt that if the Dark Prince returned, there would be flames. He himself moved to those groups, not a word needing to be spoken. When the fire began, despite his own reservations, Han and the Dai Li would protect the city from Azula's wrath.

* * *

It was sunrise in Sozin City, the eponymous comet growing larger against the sun with every passing minute. The weather had been inauspicious. Zuko had to bring Appa down through a layer of low lying clouds to reach the city. A part of him thought it fitting that Azula's coronation would be overcast. The rest of him thought himself an ass for thinking that way. As he approached, in the darkness of early morning, he beheld an odd sight, something he wouldn't have expected in Sozin City, and never on the week of a coronation: The entire city was dark. There were no lanterns. The windows of houses were shuttered and the city seemed still as a tomb. Mai took in the sight and actually let out a laugh.

"What's so funny?" Zuko asked.

"Look," she said, motioning to the darkness under them. "This city has made its choice on who is going to be Fire Lord. They have chosen the Dark Prince."

"Too bad they don't actually get to decide," Katara said, staring at the clouds.

"Maybe you should just throw the whole storm at Azula and get this over with," Mai said.

"I can't."

"You did it before."

"That was a different circumstance," Katara said. "That was with the strength of the Blood Moon. It's daytime, now, and I'm not on menarche."

"You people get power from _that_?" she asked, a bit disgusted. "All I get is bloating and a desire to stab people. Waterbenders are _weird_."

"I can still handle her," Katara said.

"Brave words," Mai answered.

Braver than either of them thought. Zuko brought the bison down outside of the royal Fire Court, not trusting the Fire Sages, obedient lapdogs of his father that they were, not to shoot it out of the sky. He bounded off, and looked back into the saddle. "Chong Sheng, are you coming?"

A dragon the size of a polar hound bounded out. Zuko's eyes went wide. There was no way that this thing was going to curl up on Zuko's neck. But at the same time, he knew that this was his dragon. He glanced up, and beheld Sozin's Comet, a red blotch through the clouds. Of course. Dragons were mostly spirit, and being empowered by this much fire must be sending it into a hell of a growth spurt.

Zuko didn't have time to deal with draconian physiology. He pet the dragon on the mane, and told it to stay with Appa. With the two most dangerous women in his life at his side, Zuko marched into the Fire Court to face down the third. When he stepped into the court, he was astounded. It was utterly empty. Usually, the masses teemed shoulder to shoulder to watch the ascendancy of a new Fire Lord. But now, at the far end of the Court, there was only two Fire Sages and Azula, the bare minimum required for such a ceremony to occur.

"By decree of Phoenix King Ozai, I now name you..." the Sage trailed off when he saw Zuko, standing at the other end of the court. Azula didn't notice him yet.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Do it!" Azula snapped, her voice shrill. Zuko frowned. That didn't sound like her. Zuko stepped forward, and her eyes locked on him.

"You're not going to be crowned Fire Lord today," Zuko said.

"Why not, are you?" Azula asked, then burst into maniac laughter. "Oh, you're hilarious."

Zuko moved closer, as the other women remained near the center of the Court. Azula... well, she looked crazy. Her hair was in wild disarray, her bangs each of different length, her eyes were bloodshot and her nails bitten to the quick. "You don't need to do this, Azula. Don't force my hand, please. It doesn't have to end this way."

"My _father_ told me that you'd come back. That you'd be jealous of my power," Azula said, rising to her feet. She waved the Fire Sages away. "It was always coming to this, you know? The showdown which was always meant to be. Brother against sister."

"Azula, please, don't do this," Zuko begged. What had happened to her?

"That's what I like to hear from you," Azula said. "Beg some more."

"I'm not begging for my life," Zuko said. "I'm begging for your soul. You're better than this. Don't keep going down this path. It will end badly for you."

"You have nothing. You have no legal footing to stand on," Azula pointed out. Even torn down as she was, her mind still had some cunning, it seemed. "I am the only recognized child of Ozai. He has named me heir, then abdicated. I am Fire Lord. You are nothing. Even if I die, you are still nothing."

"Do you think I care? This isn't about me!" Zuko shouted. Azula's brow drew down. "Look at what's happened to you!"

"You want to bring down the monster, don't you?" Azula asked. "You wouldn't be the first. But I am Fire Lord, and I will not tolerate any threats on my life."

"I'm not threatening you!" Zuko said. Azula swayed in place for a moment. She looked emaciated, and like she hadn't slept in days. "Azula, please stop this. For your own sake. This is _killing _you."

Azula's bloodshot golden eyes narrowed. "You have nothing to say that I desire to hear," a smirk came to her lips. "But since this is the day of my coronation, I will do you one favor. I'll give you five minutes to flee the city before I hunt you down like a turtle-duck."

Zuko sighed. He'd desperately hoped he wouldn't have to do this. He reached into his bag, and threw those damning scrolls to the Fire Sages. "Read them. You'll see that Azulon never stripped the birthright from Prince Iroh. At the time of Azulon's death, Iroh was Crown Prince. By all law and tradition, Iroh became the Fire Lord that morning, not Ozai."

Azula turned back to the Sages, her eyes wide. The Sages looked at Azula, shrinking from her wrath. "These are genuine. Ozai was... never legally Fire Lord."

"Iroh was my father," Zuko said, quietly. Sadly. "He has declared me Crown Prince, and abdicated his rulership. You will not be Fire Lord, Azula. You never were. Ozai never had the power to make you Fire Lord, because he was never Fire Lord himself."

"This is a trick. You're lying!" Azula shouted.

"I am Fire Lord. You are just... a pretender."

Azula stared at him, her eye twitching, as Zuko moved back down to the court. "No. No, I refuse to believe this. You want my crown? Then you're going to have to take it! I challenge you to Agni Kai!" she screamed. Zuko looked back at her, a pain twisting at his guts. His eyes dropped to the pavers of the Fire Court.

"You're on," Zuko said, as easily as tearing out his own beating heart.

"Are you out of your mind?" Mai hissed. "Didn't Iroh say you wouldn't stand a chance against her?"

"Because it would have been her and her Dai Li and the Imperial Firebenders," Zuko said. "But she's banished them all. That's the only explanation for the turnout. She's all alone."

"She's still much more powerful than you," Katara pointed out.

"I know," Zuko said. His head hung. "I don't want to hurt her. She's already so close to breaking."

"You don't want to hurt the woman who tried to kill you for a year, and almost killed me on Avalanche?" Mai asked.

"She's my sister," Zuko answered, knowing the answer was wholly unsatisfactory, but having nothing else to offer. "Besides, she's slipped. _Look at her_. Tell me that's the girl you were afraid of. I didn't think so. This way, nobody else needs to get hurt."

"Yeah, _you'll_ just get killed," Mai said. "I suppose it was fitting we get married just in time for your stupid honor to make me a widow."

Zuko turned, and saw Azula idly throwing her royal robes aside. She was wearing armor, which was quite unusual for a coronation. Had she fallen so far into paranoia? "We both knew this was the only way this could end," Azula said harshly.

"It didn't have to," Zuko answered quietly, regretfully, moving into an open handed form. Azula launched immediately into a blast of fire, blue and hot and unspeakably massive. Even if it blasted through Zuko, it would likely destroy a huge chunk of the city behind him before it snuffed out. He swept his hands low, creating a scoop of golden flames, which crashed against her azure ray and hurled it upward into the sky. Sunrise became hot, high noon. Finally, her fire ended, and Zuko let his golden flames dissipate. She did not look amused. With a shout of wrath, she leapt forward, sending a barrage of electric blue fire streaking toward him, nothing held in reserve, no holding back.

Maybe there was a way to beat her without killing her. He just had to outlast her.

* * *

Aang bounded between the Pillars of Heaven, avoiding the fiery missiles that Ozai hurled at him. They landed explosively, battering at the spiritual site. When Aang finally had proper footing, he turned, spinning his arms 'round him and dropping low, two fingers of each hand thrusting. Two great pillars of fire shot from those fingertips, the unspeakable energy of Sozin's Comet coursing through his veins like molten gold. Only without the cardiovascular burns. Aang decided to leave off with the internal metaphors as he watch that fire, easily as massive as Ozai's flying toward the Fire Lord. He expected the firebender to spin up a wall of flames, but instead, Ozai powered through the attack with one of his own, another fiery missile rolling through each of Aang's fans of flame. Aang twisted into a whirlwind and let the air carry him away before the attacks landed.

Ozai didn't fight the way Zuko did. Even though Aang was technically more powerful, Ozai had decades of experience, knew how to defeat firebending attacks from every style. But did he know the secrets of the Sun Warriors? Aang ditched out of his whirlwind, landing atop another pillar, and twisted again, this time into an underhand swing. A great blaze of fire shot up toward Ozai's rocketing form. Aang flared his hands open, and the blast split into three, but Ozai only had to pause for a moment to counter the tri-blast with three pillars of flame of his own. Aang had to keep moving.

Aang tried to regather himself on a hill which lay lower than the pillars, a stream running down its side from a spring somewhere within. He was trying to figure out how to use the water when Ozai shot up out of the forest of stone, coming to the top of a pillar. Ozai pressed two fingers to his forehead, and with a grunt of effort, threw a hand forward as though casting something. Explosions traveled in a straight line, fast as a death ray. No, it _was_ a death ray. Aang quickly pulled up all the water he could and got it between him and the impact point. However damaging Combustion Man's attacks were, they were as anemic facsimiles to the blast Ozai created. The entire hill was _vaporized_, and Aang's shield only prevented that same fate from befalling him. He was sent hurtling away, under no momentum of his own choosing.

Aang used his earthbending to pound through the first Pillar that got in his way, but the second one, just beyond it, caught him unawares. He smashed into it, ringing his head and making him have to fight to stay conscious. If he blacked out, he would die. There was no question of that. Aang's presence and cogency returned the instant that rocketing sound landed nearby, and Ozai, bare chested and grinning, lashed forward with a hand. Aang threw himself into the pillar, instantly pulling an armor suit out of stone. He was blinded, but the brutal torch of flame only drove him back instead of blasting him to ashes. And Aang could still 'see' well enough to know that every step backward Aang took, Ozai advanced.

"What's wrong, Avatar? Should I slow down? You've already lasted longer than your _parents_ did," Ozai taunted with a heinous laugh. The words ignited the hatred in Aang's heart, sending it screaming through him, begging for release. And Aang gave it one.

Aang swept his arm to the side, letting the armor fall away even as the top of the pillar they were walking down the edge of snapped off and smashed Ozai away. Without even pausing for hesitation, Aang struck again, sending brutally powerful flames through that stone block, snapping it in half, followed by a knife-like chop of air, hard as a blade and twice as sharp, to scatter the rubble. Even before the dust cleared, Aang was advancing, letting the hatred guide him. Ozai was the face of evil. The face of evil needed to be destroyed.

The punched out fans of flame which erupted from Aang's fists were green, almost to the point of being electric blue, and Ozai was on the defensive. Ozai twisted as he fell, and rocketed around a pillar. Aang didn't care. He swept his arms around, creating a blast of fire but holding it in place as it got stronger, feeding it with more of his chi. As he was about to unleash it, a horrible bang sounded, and the pillar began to fly at _him_. Had Ozai somehow learned earthbending? That was impossible! Wait, he'd probably just used percussion. Aang released the fire blast, and it smashed his way through, but his eyes widened as on the other side, as Ozai was already in the midst of baking the pillar with flame. Aang cut through with a blast of air, but Ozai was relentless. As though infuriated that he'd had to give even one hair of ground to Aang, Ozai's attack was redoubled. Every moment that Aang drew breath, he had to evade, block, or overpower another assault. Rage gave way to panic, and Aang fell back, using every element at his disposal to hold the Fire Lord's brutal attacks at bay.

Aang's feet landed on the ground, low under the massive and uncaring forms of the Pillars of Heaven, as Ozai's arms cut circularly through the air, and blue lightning joined with them. In only a second, so much faster than his daughter that Aang had no time for any thought but 'run', a blast of lightning arced down from the Fire Lord. Aang dove aside, and it tore into the landscape. Oddly, the lightning didn't seem enhanced by Sozin's Comet. It was as deadly as it ever was, but not more. Brutal laughter surged down as Ozai spun again, and another blast of lightning almost intercepted Aang, but he stopped himself, letting the twisting, forking bolt fly past.

_zhao jian wu yun jie kong du yi qie ku e_

_she li zi se bu yi kong kong bu yi se._

The words began to flow into Aang's mind, even as he saw Ozai land, a grin on his face, and twist his arms through the air once more. Blue lightning followed his fingertips, and slammed out toward the Avatar. Aang pulled the stone up, trying to create a bulwark, but he could as easily stop the world from turning. The impact blasted him off his feet, sending him hurtling through the air. His first landing was on the curve of a river, but it felt like he was bouncing over granite. The second landing was more forgiving, sending him down into mud and fronds. A glance over his aching shoulder confirmed his worst fears. Ozai was coming at astounding pace. Aang earthbent himself out of his bog, but his haste actually tripped him up, and he stumbled over the ground, landing on his chest. Ozai slammed a fist forward, and a wall of flame spread out, bathing everything that Aang could see in golden fire. Aang pulled the stone up around him, an egg which that fire washed over. He held it tight, trying to think of something he could do. The Fire Lord was too powerful. Aang couldn't win!

"You're weak!" Ozai shouted. "A child of the weakest peoples on this Earth, it comes as no surprise. Even with all the strength of the Avatar at your command and you're still weak! The weak have no place in the world that I'm going to create; the Air Nomads have no place. Prepare to join them, Avatar. Prepare to _die_!"

* * *

Katara watched as the Agni Kai dragged on. Mai seemed astounded. "This shouldn't be possible," the grey eyed woman said. "No Agni Kai has _ever_ lasted more than five minutes."

This was the second hour.

Zuko weathered the most brutal assaults that Azula could level against him, without breaking a metaphorical sweat, without losing a hand's breadth of ground, and most disconcertingly, _without ever striking back_. But Katara was beginning to see why. With every attack, Azula put more and more anger and effort into the next. She lashed forward, a blazing column of flame twice as wide as a man was tall, which Zuko answered with his own, golden to her blue. For a moment, the columns matched each other, but then, hers began to smash through, wedged aside by his and streaming past him. His ended at the edge of the Fire Court. Hers blazed well beyond Zuko, threatening to burn down the entire city. But as it licked, a great stone wall rose up, deflecting the blaze away from the vulnerable buildings, before dropping again. It wasn't the first time Katara had noticed that. Somebody was earthbending to protect the people of the city. Katara couldn't guess who.

When Azula's blaze cut out with an angry growl, Zuko let his own column die, nothing but a pinwheel of fire spinning its way to death near her. She shot a glance at it, then back at Zuko. Her eyes looked almost wild. She rocketed herself forward, blazing with an arc of flame at Zuko. But the arc was wild, and tore through the observation area the other two women watched from. Both had to hide behind pillars to avoid its wrath. Zuko slashed the attack apart without incident. Then, he closed his eyes, clenching his fists. She could see he was making a painful decision. With nothing but a look of focus on his face, he twisted to the side, both fists lashing out almost perfectly sideways. Katara recognized it as the last Kata of the Dancing Dragon form. Two streams of fire tore away from Zuko swelling and growing as they went, an undeniable, irresistible force, one even Azula had to dive out of the way of.

"About time," Mai said, moving to another portion of the 'stands'. "She's tired. This won't take long now."

Katara looked out as Azula began to skate forward on the ground, but where Katara used ice, Azula looked like she was gliding on dripping flames. As she moved, she slammed more attacks at her brother, but even as Zuko had been training Aang, Aang had been training Zuko. Zuko used firebending to rocket up away from the first two attacks, and then slammed an axe kick of golden fire through the last, before chasing the maddened Fire Lord through her circuit of the ring with careful jets of fire, giving Mai and Katara plenty of space in which he would not attack. It was ferocity versus restraint, and restraint was winning.

A huge bang sounded, and Zuko was thrown from his feet, but he didn't land harshly. In fact, he spun the instant he landed, and a wave of fire separated from his foot, splitting apart in the air into four blazing missiles, each the size of Appa or bigger. The first three landed around Azula, but the last was directly behind her in her wake of flame. The explosion threw her off of her form and sent her skidding across the floor, her hair spilling down around her. She fought her way to her feet, breathing deep, sweat dripping off of her.

* * *

Zuko quickly moved closer, his hands still open. "I'm surprised, Azula," Zuko said. "I'd have thought you'd bring out your lightning by now. Are you afraid I'd redirect it?"

"Lightning? _LIGHTNING_?" Azula screamed. Zuko couldn't believe what had happened to her. She was so ragged. She had never been like this, not as long as Zuko had ever known her. "_FUCK YOU_ AND YOUR LIGHTNING!" she screamed, and Zuko was taken aback at her language. She panted, her dark, mangled hair falling in front of her face. "You want lightning so badly? I'll show you _lightning_!"

Azula began to cast her hands around. At first, there wasn't anything, but then, huge streamers of blue electricity snapped and bounded away from her. Zuko knew from his lessons with Iroh, a year ago and more, that the more lightning drifted away, the more power was being wasted. But the fact that she was still calling up so much meant that he had to be ready for it. Any amount of lightning would be deadly if it went through his heart. He took a calming breath, and prepared himself. But as she finished her Kata, her eyes shifted, not just away from Zuko, but away from sanity. Toward Mai.

Zuko was running before she started moving, but the gulf between them was vast. Her hand struck forward, and the blue lightning began to bridge the gap. There was no way Zuko could get in front of it. Just no way. Even Mai wasn't fast enough to get out of the way, not now. So instead of just letting the energy flow, he demanded it. His fingers reached forward, intercepting the bolt, reaching it the same instant that it struck Mai in the chest. He screamed her name in horror, and created a void inside himself, pulling all of the energy inside his pool of chi, no matter the consequences. The bolt began to fill him, but with no way out, he felt himself being torn apart. All that mattered was that the energy which had been coursing through Mai now moved back, toward him.

Zuko contained that unspeakable energy for just an instant, as he flew through the air, projected by Azula's attack, before he began to feel it tear. He cast out his hands, and lightning began to dump out of him. Not out of his hands. Out of everything. It was like he exploded.

* * *

Katara watched in shock as lightning exploded away from Zuko's body, in every direction but one. Mai fell back against a pillar, her eyes wide and her always pale skin now more of corpse-like complexion. Her breathing was ragged, her expression afraid. Zuko didn't move much at all, just weak, ragged twitching.

"Zuko!" Katara shouted. She turned to Azula. As shocked as Katara was that she'd attacked Mai, Azula seemed _even more_ confused. Her jaw worked, her golden eyes flashing with complete lack of understanding. She shook her head, as though trying to deny what had just happened, what she just did.

"Why did...?" Azula asked, her voice tiny, like a terrified little girl. "Mommy, why did I...?"

When Azula finally turned to Katara, it wasn't with triumph, nor rage, nor sadism, nor wrath. It was with utter animal terror. And then, Azula began to lash out with fire, seeking to blast Katara into ashes in sheer atavistic frenzy.

* * *

_Next time, on "Pillars of Heaven"_

_Ozai stomps toward the stone, smirking as he stares down at the scree. So much for the mythical Avatar._

_"Come on out, Avatar. You're about to be..." Ozai said, but was cut off when a hand reached up, grabbing the long strand of his beard. _

_Ozai pulled back in panic, but a smirk came to his lips. The arm holding his beard was cut and bruised, the boy barely conscious. Ozai slapped the hand away, and the boy fell to the ground. Ozai kicked him in the ribs for good measure._

_Leave a review._

**And since it's not going to come up in this story, and I've already invoked the F strike: What happened to Azula when she was thirteen? High Octane Nightmare Fuel, with a side order of fucking heinous.**


	21. Sozin's Comet: Pillars of Heaven

**Here we go. Big Damned Finale. Twenty one chapters, three updates a week (seriously? Having between 21,000 and 30,000 words a week isn't fast enough? Sarcasm here of course), makes for two months of putting this thing up online. Everything was coming to this.**

**It also seems the center function isn't working. Annoying.**

**We get a rare look at what Sokka's capable of when you _really _piss him off. Aang finally realizes what he's been doing wrong. Katara gets into an unexpected knife fight. Zuko's a hopeless romantic. Ozai is a douchebag. Hakoda defenestrates the Avatar. This is it. Pillars of Heaven.**

* * *

Jeong Jeong reeled, clutching at the side of his head where the shield had caromed off before spinning into the distance. His hands came back red, his scalp split under the assault. He turned his dark golden eyes at the woman who had defied all logical possibility and not only survived more than five seconds, but had made a thorough nuisance of herself for... well, as long as she had.

"What's wrong, Jeong Jeong? Should I give you time to take a nap?" the unholy abomination asked him. Only one eye glared with brilliant white light, now. Mainly, it was because the other one was missing. But despite the heinous wounds that he'd managed to inflict upon her, she seemed utterly inured to pain, fighting despite what should have been crippling agony. She was no firebender, nor a bender of any sort, and she was still standing against him.

"Whatever you are, you won't win this," Jeong Jeong said darkly. "You can't defeat me. Not today. Not with Sozin's Comet behind me."

"I don't have to win," the Lotus smirked unevenly, her lips pulling at cracked and bleeding skin. "I just need to make sure you miss your ride."

Jeong Jeong's eyes widened, and he turned to the east. All of the airships had vanished over the horizon, gone he knew not how long. He turned back, hatefully, to the impossible creature before him. "You... are more clever than I had thought possible," Jeong Jeong admitted.

"A compliment, from you?" Lotus Suki asked. "I feel like I need a bath."

"Trust me, you don't," Jeong Jeong said. He flicked out a finger, blasting in his signature, Firestorm style. Instead of a blast the size of a small rodent, the rapidly traveling bolt ws the size of a Kuei ball. It smashed through Suki's leg, and Jeong Jeong followed it up with a blastwave of percussion which cracked nearby stone, and still had enough power behind it to send the woman dashing against the rocks. Her hands twitched, lying there broken, but she didn't make any movement toward standing. Good. Dealt with.

"This is a minor setback," Jeong Jeong said, rising to the lip of the caldera and looking at the airships burning below. "And this is not over."

Jeong Jeong walked away, fairly confident that he would not be serving the Phoenix King again. The idea did not bother him.

* * *

Sokka huddled over Toph as chunks of metal pelted his back. He might not be an all powerful bender, but at least he was tough as the walls of Ba Sing Se, so if nothing else, he could serve as a worthwhile umbrella. "You still with us?" Sokka asked, casting only a glance to the airship which upended and smashed headlong into the Pillars of Heaven. Even though his brain told him that Ty Lee, the first new airbender in the modern age, would be fine, his heart still screamed of panic.

"Everything still works," Toph said. Her eyes went wide, and her scarred hands patted on the mesh. "Incoming!"

Sokka spun away, drawing his Space Sword, as a hatch opened onto the top of the airship they'd landed on. A firebender, wearing that grim death's-head mask spotted the two, and made to throw an enormous blaze of fire. Years of fighting had made Sokka quick, though, even faster than somebody who didn't need a weapon. A dash, toward the attacker, and then a twist as he got out of the way of the first gout of flames, and his Space Sword lashed out, slicing through the man's armor and flesh with equal, contemptuous ease, digging an arm's length into the man's body. He was dead before he even knew it. Sokka slammed the hatch down, and a ripple traveled along the mesh, warping the seal and jamming it closed.

"Thanks for the assist," Sokka said, hauling Toph up behind him. He pointed to the far back of the ship. "You're going to need to bend that rudder into a turning position. The ship will spiral into the others."

"No problem," Toph said, easily matching his speed despite her vastly shorter stride.

"Have I ever told you how great it is that you invented metalbending?" Sokka asked.

"You could stand to mention it more often," she quipped. Sokka glanced up, then shoved Toph to the ground just barely getting her out of the way of a blast of flame, himself running harder to slash at the crow's nest. As easily as it cut through metal, the Space Sword parted the higher deck, sending the firebender who had just about consumed them into a wobble. A quick run to the other side, and another slash, and the entire structure fell off of the airship.

"This is endless!" Sokka shouted. Toph got to her feet and started to run toward him again. When she caught back up to him Sokka's eyes went wide as hatches began to open near the tail of the ship. Firebenders, too far away to deal with and too numerous to simply avoid, began to pile onto the flotation of the airship. Sokka grabbed Toph and looked to the edge. "We're going to have to jump!"

Holding Toph like an oversized child, he sprinted perpendicular to the firebenders and their blasting rays, down the increasing slope of the flotation. He spun the Space Sword in his hand, and jammed it into the structure as he slid. Unfortunately, the weapon proved capable of cutting with contemptuous ease whether he wanted it to or not; it didn't slow his descent at all. When the blade finally slipped out of the long scar it was cutting, it was directly over the fire decks. By some miracle, the platforms which had been retracted before were opened, and Sokka landed hard on them.

Pain erupted through his entire body, from his head to his feet. His arm, still clutching Toph, was a definite peak. It felt as though it had been pulled from its socket. And considering the forces involved, he should be glad that it wasn't torn off his body. Sokka didn't feel shame that he let out a cry of pain. The Space Sword was still in his other hand, though. Through tears of pain, he spotted two firebenders, looking at him in shock, wondering where he'd come from. Knowing that they could vaporize them both in an instant, Sokka did what Sokka did fastest; something stupid.

Sokka hurled the Space Sword at the platform just behind one firebender, shearing the platform off and sending the firebender plummeting to the ground of Wulong Forest. He quickly grabbed his boomerang and hurled it at the one standing opposite the first, this one tethered into place. The boomerang severed the tether. Below, he saw Toph pull her own Space Metal chain from her neck, and in an instant, form it into a bullet, which flew at enormous speed, striking the man from his purchase and sending him down into the long fall.

"Ooooh," Sokka said. "Bye... Space Sword."

"Help me up!" Toph shouted. Sokka tried to move even a hair, but the pain was devastating.

"I... I don't think Boomerang's comin' back, Toph," Sokka said. "Just... Just hold on."

"Wouldn't dream of otherwise, Captain Boomerang," Toph said, fear in her tone. Of course she was afraid. She knew how dangerous this was. She was helpless, blind, and dependant on him to keep her from dying. That had to be _terrifying_. Sokka felt, despite that horrible pain, that her hand was slipping out of his. He fought to tighten his grip, but he'd just as easily firebent. She started to slip.

"Hold on!" Sokka shouted.

"I'm trying!" Toph screamed, terror plain. Then... there was nothing. The pull of weight on Sokka's arm vanished. Sokka let out an anguished cry, and pulled that dislocated arm up and in front of him. Right out of its socket. He heard footfalls before him, and saw three firebenders, staring down their fists at him from the center of the fire deck.

"Surrender, and you will be treated mercifully," one of them said. These three weren't wearing their helmets. Two of them didn't look much older than Sokka.

"No."

"No?" the one in the center asked, as though he'd never heard the word before. Sokka pushed himself to his feet.

"No. I've been holding back until now," Sokka said, feeling rage wash over him. "I've always had somebody to protect. Somebody who needed me. But that's all gone now. Now it's just me," The oldest one, the most professional, began to thrust forward, but the only thing more quick than stupid Sokka was dangerous Sokka. With his remaining, usable hand, he pulled a pen from his pocket, flipped it the right way in his hand, and hurled it at the firebender's face in a fraction of an instant. It lanced through one of the man's eyes, sending his flare wide and into one of the other two. That other firebender just stopped existing. The last, a dark haired and dark eyed youth of Sokka's age, stared in fear. "Just let old Sokka speak his piece," Sokka said.

The man took an unsteady step backward as his superior writhed on the deck in pain. Sokka took a lurching step forward, pain exploding up his leg as he walked. Yup, it was broken. "I am Water Tribe. We always protect our own. But do you know what happens when we lose everybody we protected? We call it 'blood drunk'. We go into a fight we know we can't win, just hoping to do as much damage as we can. I don't have anybody left, firebender. It's just me and this airship."

"But you're arm is broken, and so's your leg," the firebender said, still backing away from Sokka's slow advance.

"Yeah. I've also got a concussion and there's even a chance that I've got a collapsed lung," Sokka admitted. "I've got no defenses, no weapons worth a damn. No plans, no allies, no hope of success," Sokka smiled, a brutal, bloody smile. "And doesn't that just scare you to _death_? I'm _still_ going to win. Because right now, I'm feeling a little blood drunk. So, firebender, here I am. Want to test your mettle against a Tribesman?"

The firebender glanced at Sokka, then at his superior, then at the sooty smear which used to be his peer. His hands dropped and he sprinted away from the fire deck as though Sokka were Koh the Face Stealer and he'd just sneezed. Sokka felt himself drop to a knee. It wasn't a bluff. As much pain as he was feeling, all he wanted right now was to spread it to others. The Water Tribes were so resilient because they only got harder to kill the more of them went down. Sokka, as he'd said, felt blood drunk. He wanted to kill them all.

And that wasn't like him at all.

There was a lurch, the entire ship suddenly shifting course. Sokka fell and slid toward the other side of the fire deck. The senior firebender slid right out into space, but Sokka managed to get ahold of a railing before he could make that same plummet. So much for his pen, too. Luckily, he had more where that came from. He clung to the rail, but his own grip wouldn't last forever. He did have a concussion, no two ways about that. Things were beginning to get a bit fuzzy. Big and fuzzy. Big and white and fuzzy. And licking Sokka in the face. Wait. What?

"Get on you goon!" Ty Lee shouted, and the sky bison lowered a bit, allowing Sokka to flop forward onto its head. It was much smaller than Appa, small enough that only he, Ty Lee, and Toph, who was clinging to its back, could effectively ride it. Its horns hadn't even come in, yet, and its markings were more silver than grey.

"What... the hell?" Sokka asked.

"Basu, meet Sokka. Sokka, meet Basu!" Ty Lee said enthusiastically. Sokka turned to Toph.

"You're not dead!" Sokka said.

"And you've taken a blow to the head," Ty Lee said, pulling Sokka back down beside her. "Come on, we need to get away from this thing."

The sky bison moved effortlessly through the air. Sokka wasn't sure, but he could have sworn he saw... "Are those airships attacking each other?" he asked.

"I kinda accidentally amplified your little Wang Fire speech," Ty Lee said. "I think everybody heard it. And not everybody likes Ozai very much," the ship that he'd been hitching a ride on began to slam through those which hadn't broken formation. Toph had done as he said, sabotaging their ship. Good man/girl, Toph. Sokka ran his fingers through 'Basu's fur. "He knew just when I needed to find him."

"You came back," Sokka said.

Ty Lee grinned. "I always will."

* * *

Katara counted herself extremely lucky, all things considered. When Azula began her savage, animal attack, it had started with the woman trying to hurl lightning at Katara, but when she tried, it blew up in her face, sending her reeling backwards. Katara began running toward Zuko, but Azula, for all her mind apparently being gone, still attacked with a vicious frenzy, azure gouts of flame searing close with every thrust of hand or foot.

Katara dived behind a pillar, waiting as the column of blue flame parted around it. There was no way that the waterbender could reach Zuko or his wife. Azula stood between them. Katara gathered the water from the trough and hurled it toward the firebender, but Azula smashed through it with a bolt of fire, exploding it into steam, before taking a leap forward, and slamming a fist toward Katara. Instead of fire, a shockwave of force tore away, smashing every pillar nearby and sending part of the structure rumbling to the ground.

Katara bounded out of her cover, pulling the water that flowed in the trough into a plane she could skate on to safer ground. This wasn't how Katara expected it. Even through her mortal fear, justified given the circumstance, she couldn't help but disbelieve that Azula had turned into this mute beast. She would have expected cruel barbs, insults, denigrations, ethnic slurs, obscenities of every description. But instead, Azula was lashing out with nothing but animal grunts and shrieks; her eyes shone not with malice, but all consuming terror.

Katara stumbled off the plane as the water ran out, and had to dive again to avoid another exploding blast of fire. But this one wasn't monumentally large. No, this one was almost just the same as the one's Azula had used against her during the fights preceding Katara's discovery of the Blood Moon. Katara twisted, hurling water from the opposite trough toward Azula, exploding it into a flurry of icicles. The old Azula would have been able to stop the attack like it was nothing. This Azula wasn't so lucky. Ice smashed into her armor, knocking her onto her back. She scrambled to all fours like a beast, and let out an animal roar, before slamming more fire at Katara. There was no control.

Katara almost stood her ground, but when she saw the wave of fire that Azula levied next, she thought better of it. Katara hurled herself into the trough, freezing the water over her head just as the wave rolled over. Azula's power seemed to wax and wane, and Katara couldn't see the system behind it. All she needed was one good shot, and Azula would be down. But she didn't know when to deliver it. And she was denied time to think about it when Azula bounded onto that block of ice over Katara's head, her inhuman golden eyes staring down, before she let out a muted shriek and slammed her fist down, blue fire flash-evaporating the ice.

Katara bent the trough to send her rocketing its entire length under the water, then spewing her forth onto the edge of the Court. Katara quickly ducked behind a forest of pillars, and listened. Azula's wheezing breath could be heard in the otherwise silent scape. Katara didn't like her chances. She had to come up with something, and fast.

* * *

Zuko felt like he should have died twice over. But the amount of pain he was still in informed him that he had to be alive. Death was peace, life was pain. There was much more of the latter than the former. He could still feel the monumental power of Sozin's Comet pouring into him, but he knew instinctively that his body wouldn't handle very much more.

Zuko lifted his head, opening his eyes. What he saw would have driven him to his knees were he not lying on his wounded chest. Mai. No, she couldn't be. He crawled toward her, every movement of his muscles sending electric agony through him. Zuko, however, had become almost inured to physical pain. After living with it for so long, it faded into the background. He moved to his wife, the love of his life. No. Please. Don't be...

Her chest rose and fell, and one grey hand was over a burnt hole in her dress. Zuko moved the hand away. Despite her respiration, there was no vitality in her. Her skin was cold. Her lips were turning blue, even with her breath. Her eyes, heavily lidded, stared sightlessly. "You can't be dead!" Zuko croaked. He reached forward, demanding power. He laid his hand on the wound, and cradled the other under her delicate neck, pulling her close to him. "I did this to you. Why could you just stay away? I can't do this again. I can't lose everything..."

And Zuko just let pure energy flow. He didn't direct it, he didn't guide it, he didn't shape it. He just demanded that it move, away from him, and into her. Any amount. All of it, if need be. Under his hands, blinding white light flowed; her skin became warm, then flush with vitality. Her pallor went from grey to its more healthy if still unusual pale. As she grew stronger, Zuko grew weaker, and he didn't care. Finally, she drew a deep breath, coughing and spitting up something bloody and painful looking. Zuko's hand fell away, since he no longer had the strength to hold it in place. Instead of a brutal hole through her body and lung, there was an ugly scar, as though she'd suffered it in her childhood instead of a few seconds ago. She looked at him, shock on her face. He looked back.

"I love you," he said quietly. Then, everything went away.

* * *

Aang baked inside his stone egg. While his earthbending could hold the structure of the orb together, his panicked mind couldn't figure out what to do next. If he released the egg for even an instant, Ozai would blast him to ashes. He'd thought himself a more powerful firebender, but as Zuko had repeatedly and unflinchingly driven into Aang's head, it wasn't about power, it was about control.

Ozai had control.

The heat radiating through the stone was unbearable. Even if the Fire Lord didn't break the rock, the heat would broil him. His helplessness and his vulnerability sparked outrage. He was the Avatar! He wasn't supposed to lose to the bad guy! This wasn't the way these stories were supposed to go!

_shou xiang xing shi yi fu ru shi_

_she li zi shi zhu fa kong xiang_.

The words still flowed, a chant from another world, sliding through Aang's mind. Only they and Ozai's triumphant laughter could be heard, beyond the popping of rock that was trying to expand for the heat. What were those words trying to tell him? He couldn't remember the song. It was important, but his distractions were dire and pressing.

"You can't hide forever, Avatar!" the Fire Lord shouted, laughing cruelly. Through Aang's tremor sense, he could feel Ozai looming over the rock. He swept a blast of flame from either side, lifting the orb from the ground, and smashing it forward into the very heart of the Pillars of Heaven. When Aang came to a stop, he was battered, bruised, and holding desperately to consciousness, lest the stone crumble around him. "How fitting you hide. Just like you have for the last century. But there's nowhere left to hide, Avatar. I have you now."

_bu sheng bu mie bu gou bu jing bu zeng bu jian_.

Aang finally recognized it. As the unbearable fires of the Fire Lord burst Aang's defenses, hurling Aang into the stone behind him, he recognized it. The Heart Sutra. For just an instant, he knew what it meant, what he had to do. But then, the stone began to rain down around him.

* * *

Katara leaned out of hiding, and almost got her head burnt off for her trouble. Azula's attacks were inconsistent, sometimes powerful to the point of lunacy, melting the very stone of the Fire Court. Other times, they were relatively pitiful, no more powerful than that she'd used against them last year. But more consistent was the fact that Azula's aim was gone. Every attack seemed to to be a matter of chance if it went in Katara's direction. Only the fact that there was so damned much fire kept Azula dangerous.

Katara hurled herself forward, sliding along a plane of ice she created, trying to get to Zuko and Mai, since Azula had abandoned them for the moment. A glance over her shoulder showed Azula leaping into an axe kick, but she stumbled on the landing. It didn't stop the monumental wave of fire from almost burning her hair. She dove behind the pillars, staring down through a lattice at the water which fed the trough. If she could have depended on Azula acting like a human being, she could have used it, but as it was, it was just useful as a reload of her depleted stores.

Katara slid next to Zuko's still body, but her eyes widened. Where was Mai? She decided she couldn't waste any time thinking about that. She was about to empower her water, to see if she could quickly heal some of the damage, when she heard a bestial shriek behind her. She turned, trying to bring up an icy shield, but when Azula thrust her blunted fingers forward, a farting sound erupted, and a flicker of red flame leaked toward Katara. It wasn't even enough for her to feel the heat of it. Golden eyes went wider, wilder, more terrified. Katara lashed forward with her water, trying to bind the mad firebender's feet, but Azula for all her madness hadn't lost her dexterity. She bounded over the attack, pulling a long knife from her belt, slashing at Katara.

There were many things Katara was. Grandmaster waterbender stood tall amongst them, but she had never been in a knife fight. That was her brother's sort of thing. So when the blade slashed across her neck, deep enough to cut but not enough to murder, she threw herself away, clutching the shallow gash that started just under the jaw and terminated at the top of her sternum. Katara's panic almost blinded her. She could defend herself from a maddened, Comet empowered firebender, but not from a crazy bitch with a knife?

Katara's water was too far away to use quickly enough. All she had was her wits. "Come on, do it!" Katara shouted, holding her bleeding neck. Her scream actually made Azula hesitate, her glance toward her brother almost heartbreaking. Utter confusion. She glanced back to Katara like _she_ was the only threat. But her hesitation ended, and she let out another animal shriek, swinging the blade high.

But something dark got in the way. Moving with speed Katara couldn't hope to match, Mai, somehow able to stand, move, and fight despite her heinous wound, had caught Azula's cocked-back arm, and brutally punched into the elbow, bending the joint back with a horrible crack. Azula spun with a cry of pain, her remaining hand grasping hard at Mai's throat. Katara felt the water, and demanded it obey.

For the first time, Katara had a full understanding of what it meant to be a prodigy. Hama claimed that it could only be done on the night of a full moon. Hama was wrong. It was a matter of strength. If one was strong enough, one wouldn't need the moon to enhance it. And according to everybody she had asked, Katara was the strongest waterbender of her generation, perhaps the strongest since Avatar Kyoshi's day. Despite the sun in the sky, the moon in only half-phase regardless, and her menarche well off, Katara bloodbent the maddened Fire Lord, dragging her away from Mai.

Azula crumpled on the floor, letting out one last scream, before... dissolving into weeping. Katara shot a glare at Mai, who was already moving, gathering up chains and hog-tying the firebender. But somehow, Katara knew she wouldn't need to. When Katara released her grip on Azula, so she could move to Zuko's side, Azula didn't struggle, she didn't flail. She just lay on the floor, trying to curl in on herself, weeping endlessly. A stink of urine hit the air, as the cast-down Fire Lord pissed herself in terror. Katara worked as quickly as she could, using every bit of the skill she'd managed to learn from Yugoda, letting her water direct the healing energies. Zuko's breath became steadier. Finally, his golden eyes opened. He looked at Katara without expression, but when he saw Mai, his face lit up with a smile.

"Thank you," Mai said, quietly, smiling genuinely at the waterbender.

"I should be thanking you," Katara admitted, only now having the time to wrap something over the bleeding wound on her neck. Mai helped Zuko to his feet as she did so, and all turned to look down on Azula.

"I didn't know that fire could heal," Mai said, indicating the raw scar where Azula had struck her with lightning only a few minutes ago. It looked years old, not minutes.

"Neither did I," Zuko answered, but winced when he tried to move. His injuries were very severe, for all the strong showing he was trying to make. Katara took Mai's place under Zuko's arm. On the ground, Azula stopped her inconsolable weeping and just became silent, her golden eyes staring at nothing. Mai had a smirk on her face, as she hooked a thumb through the hole which had been burnt straight through her dress, her body, then out the other side.

"And here, I thought victory was going to be _boring_," Mai commented.

The last words Katara heard from that battle, as she helped Zuko limp to shelter, came from his sister, and they sounded like 'Daddy, no.'

* * *

I don't understand. I'm the Fire Lord! I'm the most powerful firebender in the world!

You're alone. You're confused. But you don't need to be. Just rest. Let yourself rest.

I can't lose! Not to this Water Tribe peasant! This isn't right. It isn't fair! I'm the Fire Lord! Why can't I do anything right? What is _wrong_ with me? Why does everybody I care about leave me? Why can't _anybody_ love me? Why didn't Mommy love me?

Just rest, Azula.

But the dreams... What will Daddy do to me? He never leaves me alone.

Shhhhh.

_The moon is bright, the wind is quiet,_  
_The tree leaves hang over the window,_  
_My little baby, go to sleep quickly,_

_Sleep, dreaming sweet dreams._  
_The moon is bright, the wind is quiet,_  
_The cradle moving softly,_  
_My little one, close your eyes,_  
_Sleep, sleep, dreaming sweet dreams._

For the first time that she could remember... Azula slept peacefully.

* * *

Ozai smiled as the stone came tumbling down. But only for a moment, because the dust thrown up by the scree sliding past obscured his vision. In his lifetime, Ozai had been many things, but a fool was never one of them. He would never count himself victorious until he knew beyond all shadow of a doubt. Not until the Avatar's corpse was ashes blowing in the breeze. "Come on out, child," Ozai said. He leaned low over the rubble. "You're about to be..."

Ozai was cut off when an arm, battered and bleeding, shot up, grabbing his strand of beard. He had a moment of panic, as he pulled himself backward, hauling the Avatar up from under the light scree. But that panic dissipated almost immediately. The Avatar was barely conscious, holding on through sheer desperation. It was almost pitiful; the most powerful being in existence, reduced to this sort of state. Ozai slapped the hand away from his beard, then, when the boy fell, he kicked him once in the ribs just for good measure.

"You've caused me a great deal of problems, Avatar," Ozai said to the moaning form on the ground. He grabbed the boy's neck, and hurled him bodily into the remnants of the pillar. The boy slumped, but still refused to lose consciousness. It would have been a commendable trait, were it not in such a failure. "Now, I intend to claim full restitution for them. First, I'm going to kill you, which is obvious. But then, I'm going to find your little friends. Your waterbender is going to our prisons, but I'm not going to make the same mistake my father did. Her hands and feet are coming off the moment she walks through the door. And I will visit her every week; I understand that Tribesmen are quite attractive. I'll have a lot of fun with her. I might even see if she can provide a worthwhile heir. Agni knows that Zuko is a weakling and Azula is worthless and broken. She won't need hands or feet for that. But I might leave her _tongue_. That could be useful to me."

The Avatar's eyes tried to focus, so Ozai kneed him in the chest. "Her brother will be cut into quarters, and spread to all points of my new empire, a warning to any who dare to think that a non-bender can ever rise against the righteous rule of their betters. The treacherous Baihu will be given a traitor's death, drowned before any who care to watch. That metalbending blind girl will be hung from the neck. Let's see her try to bend rope."

"Don't do this," the Avatar whispered.

"Stop me," Ozai said. He grinned. "And you don't even want to know what I'm going to do to that traitor who used to be my son. It will be a fate he should have had meted to him on the day he was born. But you won't live to see any of this. Because you die now," Ozai began to pull the energy apart within him. "Azula's aim was poor. She thought a bolt through the heart would be enough to kill you. I will not be so sloppy."

As the lightning, compact and pure, flowed around his hands, he twisted, slamming it downward through the black hair at the top of the Avatar's head, letting it blast his brain to bits. But something went wrong, something Ozai couldn't have predicted. Instead of twitching and dying before he even knew he was dead, the Avatar did... something. A shockwave blew Ozai away, rolling to a stop no few paces away. The lightning had gone into the boy. Ozai was sure of it. But now, the Avatar rose to his feet, however battered he was, with a renewed energy.

"This is my last offer, Ozai," the Avatar said, his grey eyes hard. "You can still stop this."

"You're right, I can," Ozai answered. He spun fast, tearing the energy apart and lancing forward with two bolts of lightning, one from each extended finger. The Avatar reached forward, and the energy tore up the boy's body. The Avatar spun his arms behind him, and those same twin bolts of lightning tore away into the sky, leaving the Avatar utterly unscathed.

"You have chosen your fate," the Avatar said. "I am sorry for this, Fire Lord. You have no idea how sorry I am. You fought a boy in the Pillars of Heaven, and you thought yourself the master of everything. You used one element, the element you and your family have corrupted into a disease upon this world, and thought yourself mighty. You threatened rape and brutality on the people you conquered, and you believed yourself having all the power in the world. But you are powerless, Ozai. Because I am Aang, the Avatar. All of the Avatar's power is mine, and _IT WILL OBEY ME_. I gave you every chance to end this," the Avatar's eyes and tattoos flared with a brilliant bright light, and the next words spoke through a thousand voices, "but since you won't, I will."

The glow immediately faded, and Ozai smirked. He touched the center of his forehead, gathering the energy from his chi, and compacting it, creating a compressed explosion, which he cast outward. It traced a line away from his finger, snapping and popping as it moved through the air. The Avatar didn't even try to dodge. He just stood still, and held a hand out before him. When the explosion had just reached him, the Avatar closed his hand, and his tattoos flared white. The explosion hung in place. The Avatar's eyes, once opened, were glowing. A smirk came to the boy's lips. The voice he spoke with was not that of a child.

"Really? You're going to use my own trick against me?" the Avatar said. Somehow, Ozai knew that the Avatar was speaking with the voice of Fire Lord Tenko, the only Avatar to rule, however briefly, the Fire Nation. The Avatar closed his fist, and the explosion was crushed even further, until it vanished completely. The Avatar's smirk became unbearably condescending "So the child would play his elder's game? It's almost sickening to think my niece's children became _you_. So be it. Let it be Fire Lord against Fire Lord."

Ozai finally understood exactly why Sozin was so terrified of Roku's next iteration. Ozai watched as the boy, no, the Avatar, began to stride forward, that white glow in his eyes. As he walked, he beckoned behind him, and the river dumped up over its banks, flowing to a point by his hand, and then began to press inward. With his other hand, he called up the stone, crushing an entire Pillar of Heaven into a perfect sphere scarcely larger than Ozai's head. Not willing to hesitate another moment, Ozai lashed forward with a blast of flames. The Avatar cut through them with a blade of wind, which began to swirl and wrap around him in an almost impenetrable wall, which lifted him off the ground. The smirk vanished, and the Avatar's face became one of impassive judgment. The boy thrust out his arms and legs, bending back his head, and let out a scream of a thousand voices. From each limb or extremity, a long whip of fire grew, before bending around until they gathered into a sphere of flames so tight it was solid, directly over the Avatar's crown.

With that, Ozai took flight. He wasn't one to admit fear easily or often, but he felt it now. He seared away on jets of exploding flame, but the Avatar followed him. When Ozai rose above the level of the Pillars of Heaven, he twisted, lashing forward with three great blasts of flame. The spheres floating beside the Avatar began to rotate around him, and when the water passed before him, he thrust outward. Three fingers of water, each vastly larger than the sphere which had contained them, shot through the heart of Ozai's attacks, nullifying them. Fire was next, and the Avatar let fly a curtain of fire which seemed to erase the sky, sweeping downward. Ozai tried punching through it, but beyond that flame was only more flame. He dove back into the Pillars.

Next of the Avatar's attacks was the sphere of stone. Ozai glanced back, and saw the Avatar flaring out his fingers as that sphere was broken into tiny chips, no larger than a fingernail, which shot through the Pillars like the hail of an angry god. The whole forest of stone was torn apart, and only by the grace of Agni did Ozai manage to avoid them. The Avatar began to advance, traveling faster than Ozai could manage. Ozai began to weave through the pillars. It didn't buy him time nor distance; whenever a Pillar stood in the Avatar's way, he just pounded straight through it, no speed nor time lost. Glancing back to gage the Avatar's pursuit almost cost Ozai his life. The Avatar slammed his fists together, and before him, two of the monumental Pillars of Heaven slid together, blocking Ozai's path. He let out a growl of alarm, and quickly redirected his flight.

As Ozai twisted, he spun his arms, quickly tearing that energy apart, and sending a lightning bolt at this god-made-flesh. Without hesitation or slowing at all, the boy caught it on a finger and hurled it back, barely missing Ozai and sending rubble raining down around him. The Avatar pulled toward him, and Ozai's advance was halted completely, a hurricane wind blasting hard enough to stall him. He began to slip out of the air, and redirected himself to the top of one of the rougher-sided columns nearer the edge of the valley, next to Wulong Forest. He landed harshly, and the Avatar hovered close by. Ozai smirked, thrusting forward a hand, and letting a percussive blast surge out. See if the Avatar could stop a shockwave itself.

The Avatar clapped his hands together, a move that Zuko had pulled unexpectedly during the Agni Kai. So Zuko had actually taught this whelp? The shockwave parted along that chi-knife and moved harmlessly passed. Ozai glanced toward the forest, and his eyes grew wide when he saw that while much of it burned, his airship fleet was a shambles, many of them crashed, and some of them even in combat with _each other_! Ozai knew it was time to go. He had three more days to kill the Avatar.

When Ozai made to take off, however, the land denied him. Erupting up from the ground came walls of stone large enough to make Ba Sing Se look pitiful. Ozai turned, lashing out with flame once more, but the Avatar was right there, blasting him back into that wall with a jet of wind faster than any tornado. The walls began to draw down, but as they went, Ozai felt his arms become caught, dragged low, his back arched upward. The Avatar floated before him.

"Fire Lord Ozai, you and your ancestors have disrupted the balance of this world and brought it to the edge of oblivion," a thousand voices declared. "You will suffer the ultimate punishment."

Ozai couldn't do anything but stare in alarm, and wait for the end, but instead of a lethal blow of stone to the head, an icicle through the chest, or a lightning bolt through his person, the glow faded, and the boy fell back down to earth, landing with eyes lidded, and breathing deeply. "But it won't be death. That isn't how this ends."

Ozai smirked. "Then you're just as weak as I thought," he said. Then, he breathed forward a massive wash of flame. But the Avatar didn't seem surprised by this. He advanced, through that fire, with nothing but a wedge of air pushing the flames away, until he laid a hand on Ozai's bare chest, and the other, on Ozai's brow. Ozai felt something inside him, an intruder. For the first time in Ozai's life, he screamed in fear.

* * *

"How many is that?" Sokka asked, looking at the airships.

"Only two, and I think they're on our side," Ty Lee answered. Basu was much slower than Appa was, but that still made him capable of staying away from all of the other airships still afloat. "I think we've done all we can, here."

"Yeah, shouldn't we be helping Twinkletoes?" Toph asked.

Sokka nodded. "Of course," he said. "We just need to find..."

"What is it, Sokka?" Ty Lee asked. Sokka couldn't believe his eyes. He pointed to what he saw, out there in the Pillars of Heaven.

"Do any of you see that?" he asked.

"Eh. If I've seen nothing once, I've seen nothing a hundred times," Toph answered.

In the Pillars of Heaven, a great blue light shot into the sky. Even not being able to see its source, Sokka knew that it was Aang, somehow. An orange light began to flare up as well, fighting against the blue. This was Ozai.

"Oh, man, if you could see what I'm seeing right now," Sokka said, shaking his head. But he leaned forward, against the agony of his rudimentarily wrapped ankle and his slung arm, and a look of alarm shot onto his face. "Oh, no! We've got to get there!"

"Why? What do you see?" Ty Lee asked.

The blue light, the purity and the kindness, it was losing. The orange, the hatred and rage, was dominating, growing at the expense of the blue. Aang was fading away.

"Just hurry!" Sokka shouted.

* * *

_Na mo a mi tuo fu xin nei_.

Aang knew that he was losing himself. He tried, gods and spirits only know how hard he tried, but every effort of fight that he put forward seemed to make it easier for Ozai to inch deeper, to despoil his very soul. He could feel the Fire Lord flowing through his veins, burning away everything which made Aang Aang.

But there was something else in this place between places. Knowledge.

IN THE AGES BEFORE THE AVATAR, WE BENT NOT THE ELEMENTS, BUT THE ENERGY WITHIN THE BODIES AND WHICH FLOWED AROUND US.

The words of the Lion Turtle came to Aang were less words, and more concentrated understanding. When it spoke of the energy within and without, Aang immediately thought of fire and waterbending. He then instantly understood why Ozai's lightning wasn't any stronger today than it would have been any other day. Lightning wasn't firebending. It was a hold-over from the days before, when firebenders were... energybenders. Something which survived to the modern day because firebenders came closest to understanding the old methods. That was why firebenders could generate lightning, but waterbenders could redirect it.

WE GIVE YOU A RARE GIFT. NOT SINCE SHE WHO WAS CALLED UAMMANAQ HAS THIS BEEN GIVEN TO ANY CHILD OF THE FOUR. TO BEND THE SPIRIT OF ANOTHER, YOUR OWN SPIRIT MUST BE _UNBENDABLE_. OTHERWISE, YOU WILL BE CORRUPTED, AND DESTROYED.

So that was what Aang was doing. Spiritbending. Aang thought hard. How was he failing? Where was his weakness? Then, he understood, as a fragment of a conversation came back to him. He was standing in Di Huo, talking to Ty Lee. Anger was Ozai's poison. Hatred was his weapon. Aang finally and totally understood. He hadn't locked his Thought Chakra; he hadn't fallen by choosing attachment. He locked his Heart, by choosing hatred.

Aang finally took that hatred which had nestled into the core of his being, and looked at it for what it was. Needless blame. Ozai was not Sozin. They would each have to face their own punishments for their own crimes. Ozai could not pay the costs his grandfather incurred. That would be unjust. While Ozai had his own crimes, and deserved punishment, his punishment would be for he alone, undertaken with a clear vision and a whole heart. Aang let the hatred flow away.

And then the power flowed.

It was pure creation and destruction, yin and yang, push and pull. He could do anything he wanted to Ozai. He could leave him spiritual bankrupt, or give him strength that would rival an Avatar's own. But now was the time for just punishment, earned in cruelty and rapacity. Aang felt the energy flow, and he let it all drift away from both of them. Above his mortal shell, a column of light shot into the heavens, the spark of a grandmaster firebender vanishing into the ether. Aang sagged, and the Fire Lord slumped. Aang let the bonds fall away.

Ozai tried to get to his feet, but his body wouldn't obey him. He was thinking with a firebender's mind, but he no longer possessed a firebender's spirit. "What did you do to me?" Ozai asked, his voice rasping and confused.

"I took away your firebending," Aang said. "You will no longer be able to use it to kill or intimidate people ever again. You are now just a normal person, not a king, not a leader, not a martyr. That is the punishment you have earned in nine years as Fire Lord. Be thankful you did not last longer, nor do worse."

Aang was speaking nothing but truth. Kyoshi was right. They all were. They weren't telling him to kill Ozai. They were telling him how not to. Aang heard a familiar bellow behind him, and turned, smiling as an enormous tongue knocked him a step backward. His eyes narrowed a bit, though, when he beheld a beast which was not his own.

"Basu found me!" Ty Lee shrieked with delight.

Sokka slid off the beast carefully, but with a huge grin on his face. "You did it, Aang! You should have seen it! You were all glowing and blue and then he was all glowing and orange, and then the orange started to creep in and take you over, then at the last possible second BOOM and then there was blue all over the place..."

"Sokka."

"Yeah, Aang?"

"You're beginning to sound like Ty Lee," Aang said.

Toph began to laugh uproariously at that, bounding down to the top of the pillar. Toph took a step toward Ozai's supine form. "So... did you," she paused, sucking her teeth, "finish the job?"

"I'm still alive," Ozai said threateningly from the ground.

"I learned from a giant lion turtle that I could take away his firebending without killing him," Aang said, relieved to be surrounded by friends. He turned. The forest below was still ablaze. That wouldn't do. He opened up to that energy from the universe, and let it flow through him. Uammanaq spoke to him, her words and her power flowing through him. He pulled up the water from the sea, creating a tide which swept up over the land, bathing the trees. It was so much like the first waterbending he'd ever learned, when Katara was still the novice, but on a scale which could change the world. Then, with the flames snuffed, he let it flow back out.

"Wow. Was that you?" Ty Lee asked.

"Yeah, he's the Avatar," Toph said. "He does that sort of... wait... You're not angry."

"I am Avatar Aang."

It was all the explanation that Aang needed to give. Sokka, though, seemed unable to ignore an opportunity to taunt the Fire Lord. "Well, look at you, buster. You're not so big without your firebending, now are you, 'Loser Lord'?"

Ozai rose to his feet... and still had to tilt his head back a bit to look into Sokka's eyes. "I am the Phoenix King," Ozai said harshly.

"Yeah, right. Phoenix King of gettin' your butt whooped," Toph said, punching her palm. But it was Ty Lee's reaction which made Aang nervous. Her eyes became dead and stony, her expression grim and hateful. She stood before Ozai, pushing her beau aside and glaring up at him. Aang wondered if he could intercede if she did something rash.

"More like the 'Failure King'," Ty Lee said harshly, then kicked Ozai very hard in the shin, making him fall over onto his face. Toph let out a belly laugh.

"Sugarqueen, you're not half bad at this nicknaming thing," Toph admitted.

"Why don't you have one?" Aang asked, finally broaching the topic, letting the fallen Fire Lord mutter darkly and impotently on the ground. "I mean, we've all got nicknames, but you don't."

"How about 'Shorty'," Ty Lee offered.

"What?" Toph shouted. "I ain't that much shorter than you, circus freak!"

"Aw, did I hit a nerve?" Ty Lee asked with a sweet smile. Aang turned, and his eyes widened as an airship was lowering toward the Pillar. A man in red armor, sans helmet, stood at the fire deck.

"Is that the false Fire Lord?" the man asked.

"It is," Sokka answered. False Fire Lord? "Who are you?"

"Lieutenant Kenzo, de facto commander of what's left of this fleet," Kenzo nodded. "I assume you heard Wang Fire's announcement?"

"I was right there when he did it," Sokka said. "I don't think he made it out alive."

"Then he died as a true hero to the Fire Nation," Kenzo said. "We're placing Ozai under arrest. If you like, we could offer you transport, Avatar Aang."

"Wow, this is a lot friendlier than I expected to get," Aang admitted. He looked up as Momo descended from the sky, landing on his shoulder. The beast which was also his father-figure let out a cooing sound, something that almost sounded like pride.

"Traitors," Ozai muttered from the ground.

"Don't worry about him," Toph said. "Aang nutted him but good."

* * *

Hakoda watched as the ships began to power away, leaving what fires still burned in Kad Deid to gutter under their own power. He quickly vaulted up through the city, his body still spry for his forty odd years, and watched as they departed without so much as a parting shot. He looked up. The three firebenders, two former prisoners and one the ruler of this nation, seemed to slump with relief.

It didn't take long for Hakoda to reach their place on the fortifications. "We've won this, but I'm not sure why or how," Hakoda said.

"The White Lotus arranged for... a bit of misdirection," the Empress said. "Every Fire Nation army in the world has received orders to stand down and wait for further instructions."

"How? How could you do this?"

"I didn't," the Empress said innocently, her mature tones oddly singsong. "I'm just the widow of Emperor Zeruel the Second. Certainly not somebody capable of sending the entire military of a continent into a tailspin."

Hakoda stared at her for a moment. "I _almost_ believed that," Hakoda said. "You're an exceptional liar. Remind me never to become your enemy."

Golden eyes glared at him through the partially molten silver mask. A smirk came to her painted lips. "As long as you don't tell the new Fire Lord who I am, I won't be."

* * *

Iroh walked up the thoroughfares of Ba Sing Se. Twisted and broken Salamander tanks littered the streets of the Upper Ring. A glance down one side street showed King Bumi doing what he did best; making a royal mess of things. Without a glance, the brilliant, but somewhat mad king stacked five tanks atop each other, ruining all of them.

Down another street, Master Pakku had frozen an entire platoon of firebenders harmlessly to the ground. Without a proper understanding of techniques like the Breath of Fire, they would be trapped there until Pakku released them. The soldiers and benders and warriors of the White Lotus flowed through the city, their experience and cohesiveness easily outmatching the ordinarily overwhelming strength of the firebenders left behind as garrison of Ba Sing Se.

"I never thought I would walk this path," Piandao said, striding beside the once Prince. "Even now, it is a vision beyond compare."

"It will be great again," Yingsu Beifong said. She looked quite a bit like her aunt, albeit with eyes _much_ more green than brown. How Iroh missed his wife. "Even with the Earth King's line dead and gone, the nation will rise again. We have suffered worse and endured."

Iroh looked in the distance at the Royal Palace. The symbol of the Earth Kingdoms had been chipped away, and standards for the Fire Nation hung in their place. Without a word, Iroh cast out a finger, and a lance of fire blasted the standards to ashes. Ba Sing Se was free again.

* * *

"This is just terrible," Fu Yin said for what was probably the eightieth time that day. He was predictable and insufferable. There was a reason she didn't like these people very much. She had entered the room without making a sound, which was usual for her, but made two of the three occupants of the fairly well appointed room start with alarm when they noticed her.

"Mai?" Mother asked. "Is that you?"

"Have you gone blind? Of course it is," Mai said peevishly.

"Has the Fire Lord recaptured New Ozai?" Father asked hopefully.

"No," Mai answered. She reached into her sleeve and pulled out a document. When she saw this while she was rummaging through the former Fire Lords' things, she knew that she _had_ to deliver it by hand. "And it's Omashu, not New Ozai. The King made that abundantly clear."

"But... how did you get in here?" Mother asked.

"I asked politely," Mai said flatly. She brandished the document. "You might want to know that the Fire Lord isn't too happy with you. Because of your ineptitude in your handling of first governing, and then losing New Ozai, the Fire Lord declared you all banished."

"What?" Mother screamed.

"Ozai wanted me executed for treason as well," Mai said idly. "Oddly, it was Fire Lord _Azula_ who redacted that part. She agreed with your banishment, though."

"Fire Lord..." Father asked, unable to follow.

"Yes. This might be the most official document in the world," Mai said sarcastically. "It's the only one which was signed into law by _three_ different Fire Lords."

"But then who's...?"

"Fire Lord Zuko," Mai said. "My husband, if you cared to know."

Fu Yin's face brightened. "I knew you would find the right man if given proper instruction and clarity."

"Don't get so cocky," Mai said. A smile came to her face. A dark smile. "You are forgetting. You're _banished_. You're never to set foot in the Fire Nation ever again. Neither Zuko nor I saw any need to change that. You're a bootlicker and a sycophant, and my husband will have nothing to do with you."

"You can't do this to us!" Mother shouted. "We're your parents!"

"I can do whatever I need to," Mai said. She turned, then paused at the door. "We did make one small alteration, though," she turned, looking at her younger brother. "One name was specifically excluded from that banishment. Tahm, if _you_ ever want to visit your sister, _you_ are always welcome. As for you two?" Mai let the words hang in the air painfully, then she exited, closing the door on them, and the last bit of influence that they would ever hold on her life, forever.

* * *

Sozin's Comet was a lot more impressive now than it had been yesterday. Of course, it hadn't been since yesterday that she'd done much moving of any significant quantity. As much as it pained her to lose a fight, especially to a dink like Jeong Jeong, the fact that she wasn't dead was probably as powerful a claim to her martial aptitude as could exist in this world. She, with nothing but a fan and a sword, and the spirit of a two hundred and thirty year old Avatar looking over her shoulder, stood her ground against the Royal Firemaster on the day of Sozin's Comet and didn't end up as a smear on the rocks.

Of course, the pain was _outstanding_.

"Suki! Are you alive?" an excitable voice came, and in an instant, Ty Lee was staring down into Suki's face. Her expression was extremely concerned.

"More or less," Suki said, her voice casual, despite everything. "I'm in a tremendous amount of pain, though."

Ty Lee turned back, away from where Suki was able to see. "Guys! We need a healer down here now!"

"Oh, it isn't that bad," Suki said, gingerly touching her face. It didn't feel quite right, but considering her opponent, not surprising. "I can't seem to see out of my left eye, though."

"That's because it's not there anymore," Ty Lee said, concern plain on her face.

"That makes sense," Suki admitted. Ty Lee reached down and began to run her fingers along Suki's chest and neck, and the pain began to ebb somewhat. If that was chi blocking, then thank the spirits for it. "Do I really need to ask why I can't feel my leg?"

"Yeah... it's not there either," Ty Lee said. Suki let out an anguished sigh. Lost a leg. So much for the fight at this point. She lifted both her hands.

"Well, I've still got these. I'm still alive, so that's... something."

"Suki, you don't look so good," Ty Lee said.

"I'm proud of you," Suki said. Ty Lee frowned, leaning in close. Suki caught Ty Lee's face between her hands. "When it came down to it, you fought for the world. You fought for Kyoshi. It may not be much, but _I_ consider you a Kyoshi Warrior."

Suki wiped her thumbs up along the line of Ty Lee's eyes, her blood emulating the distinctive paint of the warriors of the long fallen Avatar. Ty Lee smiled for a moment, then leaned back up and shouted. "I NEED A HEALER!"

Suki didn't mind. She knew she was going to survive today. Destiny was their friend. And it wasn't Suki's destiny to die today. She was sure of it.

* * *

Zuko looked up at the sky, slowly pulling on his ceremonial robes. He hurt just about everywhere, but considering the amount of punishment he'd taken the day before yesterday, it was astounding to most that he was even able to stand. For that, he had Katara to thank. She seemed poised on the edge of offering to help him, but he'd told her that he'd do this himself, and she respected that decision. He was slowly tying the robes with the sash when the door banged open, and his constant shadow entered the room, smiling slightly. Zuko brightened.

"Mai, you made it back," he said, smiling.

"I just had some family business to deal with," Mai answered. "Besides, I wouldn't want to miss your coronation."

"Always looking out for me," Zuko muttered.

"Somebody has to," Mai answered. She turned to Katara. "You don't need to hover. He's going to be fine."

Katara didn't see much room for argument. "He's a very lucky man. Or else an unbelievably tough one."

"You don't need to tell me that," Mai said. Katara gave Zuko's wife a nod, and departed. Light from outside streamed into the room. Behind him, Mai prepared his hair into a phoenix tail. He considered the double flame headpiece, but he knew it would be in the way. He wasn't the Dark Prince, not anymore. "You almost look like a Fire Lord."

"As compared to what?"

Mai smiled lightly, patting him on the cheek. "You do realize that the people aren't going to be content with you just appearing with a Fire Lady."

"Yeah," Zuko said, working his muscles so they wouldn't embarrass him. "I suspect there's going to have to be a proper, royal wedding soon."

"Sooner than later," Mai said, nodding. Zuko knew why. He'd understandably freaked out a bit about it when she mentioned it, as an off handed remark, while they wandered Ember Island looking for Aang, but the time since calmed his nerves somewhat. A little bit, anyway. He was going to be alright.

Better than. Zuko was going to be a father.

"This is it," Zuko said, a tightness in his chest not attributable to being struck by lightning. "I'm... actually the Fire Lord."

"You say that like it's a surprise," Mai said. "Some people never believed you'd end up as anything but."

Zuko smiled, and began to walk out into the light. Sozin's Comet now blazed brightly overhead, casting the noon with a reddish sheen. Tomorrow would see it recede again until it was a reddish blotch in the sky. The day after that, and it would vanish for another hundred years. Before him was a crowd of many peoples. Shoulder to shoulder stood warriors from the South Water Tribe, earthbenders, Whalesh, and many others. Yesterday, they had been prisoners. Now, the force which almost toppled Ozai's reign a month ago now stood as honored guests. Beyond them, hundreds, if not thousands of Fire Nation citizens crowded the Fire Court.

"Today, this war is finally over," Zuko announced. The crowd became silent. "I promised my father, the exiled Prince Iroh, that I would restore the honor of the Fire Nation. But I cannot. I cannot because _you_ have restored that honor in yourselves. A century of animosity will not be easily overcome, and the path we walk will not be easy, but I have faith that we can work together to heal this divided world, and restore the balance which was so long broken."

Zuko looked up as a murmur began to ripple through the crowd, and a bubble opened up around one who moved forward through it. Zuko couldn't help but smile.

"With the help of the Avatar," Zuko said, motioning toward Aang, who had come to a stop at the head of the crowd, "we will bring the Fire Nation back onto the right path. We will begin a new age, not of war and conquest, but of peace, understanding, and mutual advancement."

The crowd seemed pleased with his speech. Despite her comments otherwise, Mai had a good grasp of the emotions of the people. Having Minister Jee working with him also smoothed things tremendously. He would have never thought Jee, the cantankerous old middling firebender whom he'd spent three years with on a boat, would return to serve him as one of his highest political advisors. Destiny was a funny thing. The Fire Sages, eleven in number and arrayed behind him resplendent in red robes very much like Zuko's own, held aloft the five point Phoenix Flare.

"By right of abdication of Fire Lord Iroh, you are named Fire Lord," the Fire Sage announced, sliding the Pheonix Flare into place. Zuko slid the pin through the phoenix tail, locking it in place. "All hail Fire Lord Zuko!"

The crowd began to bow down. Zuko looked back at the Fire Sages. "Once, long ago, the Fire Lord was merely first among the Fire Sages. Those days may never return, but I will not demand obedience. I emancipate the Fire Sages from the rule of the Fire Lord," Zuko said. The aged Fire Sage nodded gratefully. It was but one of many things Sozin had done which Zuko now had to undo. Zuko turned to the crowd. Only Aang was still standing. Zuko smirked. "It is traditional, Aang, to bow before the Fire Lord."

Aang gave a start, glancing about. He made as though to bow, but Zuko moved first, fighting his own aching body, and bowing himself, to the Avatar.

"But these are not traditional days," Zuko finished. "Rise, my subjects, rise, my guests. Ozai imprisoned you for your attack on my city. As Fire Lord, I give you pardon and free return to your homes. You will not be accosted by any force under a true Fire Nation flag."

The former prisoners had expected this. Hakoda had returned from Kad Deid, where they'd driven off the Fire Nation's seige, and informed them so that – in his words – they wouldn't try anything drastic during Zuko's coronation. Zuko had only one more thing to announce, and this one in particular was a thing of happiness. "And finally, I must announce my impending marriage to Mai, of the Azuli House Loyo Lah. The rifts within the Fire Nation need to be healed every bit as much as those without it. It is time for all peoples to become one. Go in peace, citizens. A new day dawns."

Zuko turned and walked back into the building, only allowing the extreme discomfort onto his face once his back was turned. Even this was strenuous activity for somebody who had only gotten up from the infirmary once since a terrible electrocution before this hour. He leaned against the pole out of sight for a long moment, and Aang came to him.

"It's hard to believe that four years ago, the only goal I had in life was to destroy you," Zuko said. Aang ran his fingers along his hair with a smile.

"It's hard to believe that four years ago, I was frozen inside a block of ice," Aang said. "Things change, don't they?"

"Yeah," Zuko said.

"So... what did you do? Nobody said anything about what happened to Azula," Aang asked.

Zuko glanced toward the ground. "She was... incarcerated. We have her guarded all the time, in case she tries something. I don't want to hurt her, but I know what she's capable of."

"There's another option," Aang said quietly.

"Can we not talk about this, not right now?" Zuko asked, feeling a stab of pain in his guts, not associated with any injury Azula had given him. Yet, in a way, it was.

"If you like," Aang said, nodding sagely. He looked over and saw Katara waiting. "I should go. We've got nothing but time."

"Yeah. Weird how that feels," Zuko said. He began to walk, and Aang turned to his woman. Whatever the two of them had to say together, it was none of the Fire Lord's business. After less than a dozen steps, Mai was at his side, ever his constant shadow. "Was that to your satisfaction?"

"You could have gushed a little bit more about me," Mai said neutrally. "Flowing verses of poetry about my beauty, bravery, and lethality. That would have been nice."

"Yeah, right. You would have beaten me to within an inch of my life if I tried," Zuko smiled. Mai took his arm in hers, leaning her lustrous black hair on his shoulder. "It doesn't seem real. Like all of this is a dream and I'm going to wake up, and I'll be... I don't know. Back on the boat with Iroh, my head shaved, looking for the Boy in the Iceburg."

"You really should listen to Sokka and stop making it too easy for the universe to ruin your day," Mai pointed out. With a light chuckle, she parted, and Zuko looked over a garden, with the turtle duck pond tucked in at its edge. He remembered all the times he and his mother fed the little creatures, all the hurts she soothed. For some reason, those memories were more distant now. Zuko was calm. He was at peace. For the first time in his life,_ he was happy_.

He had a notion.

He began to pull his arms through a circular motion, and felt energy inside him pull apart, separating into positive and negative. It crackled along his arms, gathering at his fingertips. He let his arm guide the energy, and with a thunderclap, a bolt of lightning shot away from his extended fingers, up into the empty sky. Zuko stared at the purple afterimage of the lightning bolt _he_ had generated. A glance to the door showed that Mai had returned, knives in hand, as though expecting some threat. But all she would see was Zuko, smiling, nodding to himself an understanding years in the making.

* * *

"Did anybody see where Zuko went? This is supposed to be his party," Ty Lee said, hopping around, standing on her toes trying to see over people. It was ridiculous. She was an airbender. Aang had made sure of that. She had a lot of training to do, and he had still much to teach her, but she was an airbender. Ever since she'd gotten her glider repaired, she threw herself into training. Aang wasn't sure if Sokka was too happy about that.

"I don't know," Aang said. The marriage celebration had been about as lavish as one would have expected it to be, considering it was between the ruler and consort of a nation. Now, that the actual ceremony was over, the numbers had dwindled from thousands to a couple hundred. At the moment, the only music filling the room came from Iroh's Tsungi horn. "Maybe he needed to use the bathroom."

"He's off by himself," Mai's voice cut in. She was still wearing black, but this time it served a double purpose. Even as it was apparently her favorite color, it also gave her an illusion of slimness. Aang had been very surprised to see her gain weight since the last time he'd come to the Fire Nation, at Zuko's coronation two months ago. "He does that sometimes. I don't know where he goes, but if it was important, he'd tell me."

Aang knew that the two were already actually married, but the fact that Mai had become visibly pregnant before the nation even knew they were husband and wife must have been scandalous. Still, they seemed to take it in stride. "That's kind of a shame. I needed to talk to him about something."

"If you can talk to him, you can talk to me," Mai said, guiding the Avatar away from the celebrating crowds. Celebrations seemed to be going on non-stop around the planet, these days. Aang had traveled from celebration to celebration. Thousands raising their glasses and singing their praises of Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko. But that wasn't all that Aang saw. There was discontent. There were loyalists to Ozai. The trickery that the Empress of Great Whales utilized to save her city had only sent the army away. It was still a threat, festering in the islands of Great Whales to this day. Dozens of small armies, loyal to Ozai and his vision for the Fire Nation, still wandered the East Continent. It was peace, but an unsteady one.

"I've been thinking about the state of the world," Aang said, as soon as he and the Fire Lady were clear of the crowds.

"You do realize this is my wedding?" Mai asked. "You should be dancing with your woman and tricking people into giving you wine, not contemplating the hardships of the future."

"I know," Aang said. "But I have a power, something not seen in a thousand years. I can deal with threats that I thought could only end with death. I can..."

"You want to spiritbend Azula's firebending away, don't you?" Mai asked. Aang tripped over his own words.

"She's dangerous," Aang said quietly. "I've thought and thought, and everything I consider comes back to the fact that she's been waiting for an opportunity to escape, and disrupt everything we've fought so hard to gain. As long as she's a firebender, she will always be a threat."

"And you call yourself kind," Mai said harshly.

"I don't consider this lightly, Fire Lady," Aang said sternly.

"You call her a threat? When was the last time you _saw_ her?" Aang glanced away. "I don't think you've visited her _once_ since her defeat. Ty Lee's already done better than that. You say she's waiting for an opportunity? She lies in her own filth, unable to even_ feed herself_," Mai stressed. "I had her transferred to a hospital on Grand Ember, more than a month ago. She's not waiting. She's inert. And if you took away her firebending, I don't doubt that it would break her will completely. She would wither away and die. And despite everything, I don't think she's earned that."

"But she threw a lightning bolt at you," Aang pointed out.

"I'm well aware. I still don't think _you_ have the right to kill her because of it. By my cultural laws, only _I_ get that right. And despite my reputation, I'm not a vengeful person. She's ill. She needs medical help. Not spiritual castration."

Aang nodded. He could see her point. "What does Zuko think about this?"

"That is his position as well. He's soft hearted. He doesn't want to hurt his sister," Mai said simply. Aang actually felt himself sag a bit, not from disappointment, but from relief. He really didn't want to do this himself, either.

"I will respect your decision," Aang said. "I just hope for all our sakes that that it's the right one."

"Time will tell, Avatar. Time will tell," Mai said. She sighed. "You know the most depressing part? When they brought her in, they took her to _her old room_. This is the second time she's been a patient in that place." She walked back into the crowd, leaving Aang to ponder that as he would. After a moment, Aang followed after. Chong Sheng, Zuko's dragon, curled around the throne which Zuko had for the moment vacated, Instead, it nuzzled at Mai affectionately. It was significantly larger than the last time Aang saw it. Now, it was twice as long as Appa. Not fully grown yet, but still quite something. He went by where Sokka sat, off to one side, drawing something.

"It's a shame that your father couldn't be here for this," Aang said, somewhat disengenuously. He still had a bruise on his chest from his last meeting with Hakoda. Sokka glanced up. He looked unshaven, but otherwise well kept.

"He's been away from home for five years," Sokka said. "I think he's earned a bit of a break from foreign trips."

Sokka went back to drawing whatever it was that he was drawing. Aang leaned over. "Hey, is that us? Wait, why does Katara have Momo's ears?"

"And why does Zuko look like a boarquepine?" Ty Lee asked. Katara, hearing this, leaned over herself.

"And why is Ty Lee firebending?"

Iroh, who had come all the way from Ba Sing Se, stopped playing his Tsungi horn for a moment and pointed at the page. "And my belly isn't that big anymore. I've really trimmed down," the abdicated Fire Lord said pleasantly, before returning to making light music.

"This isn't a picture of you!" Sokka exclaimed. "I'm trying to figure out how I designed a photographic camera in the Spirit world. It's not as easy as you'd think."

"You could always ask some people," Ty Lee said. "Like... at Ba Sing Se University?"

"What do you mean?" Sokka asked. Ty Lee held out a gold and green bag, one that Sokka had accidentally stolen in Burning Rock, and then thought lost when he had to abandon it on Avalanche. Sokka tore through it, finding the spirit scroll in a heartbeat, a bewildered expression on his face. He grinned, pulling Ty Lee into a hug which could have come from her. "You are the best girlfriend ever!"

"I know... I can't breathe," Ty Lee said. Aang walked outside, looking at the red horizon, the sun setting beyond it. Two months ago, they had been in the fight of their lives, to save the world itself. Now... Katara came and stood next to him. He slid an arm around her waist, pulling her close.

"It's beautiful," Katara said.

"...I feel like I'm supposed to say something romantic right now, but it's not coming," Aang admitted. He reached into the pocket of his shirt; while as Avatar, he was of all nations, he still felt odd. Like he didn't really have a people anymore. The Air Nomads were gone. The last of them died a hundred years ago. Aang had to become something new, find a new identity for himself. He was an Air Nomad no longer, and only now was beginning to understand that. The Air Nomads died out a century ago, and yet he had to find a way to make sure that the airbenders went on. He slid a finger over the gem. "I'm sixteen years old," Aang said. "If the world were a simpler place, the monks would come and tell me today that I was the Avatar, that the world was depending on me to keep the balance."

"Thank the spirits this isn't a simpler world," Katara said. "If it was, you and I would never have met."

"And I would have died a long time ago," Aang said. He pulled the jewel out, glancing down at it. "There's something I want to give you."

"What is it?" Katara asked. He held it before her. It was unique. He'd made it himself, from the stone that he'd crushed in the Pillars of Heaven. The resulting gem had properties seen nowhere else on earth, save for the jewel in Zuko's Phoenix Flare or the Spear of Nannuica in the North. It was harder than steel, but clear, with the slightest tinge of blue to it. Its surface caught and reflected the light. It was a betrothal necklace. "Aang... this is..."

"It was the only thing I thought was worthy of you," Aang said. "And I hope I'm doing this right. When I talked to your father about it, he threw me out a window."

"He did what?" Katara asked.

"Well... I kinda admitted that we'd made love, and that made him a bit angry. He said that if I hadn't been so dead set on doing the right thing, he'd have taken me to a higher window before defenestrating me. I learned what that word meant that day," Aang grinned. Katara stared at him, astounded. "I notice you haven't... you know... accepted."

Katara shook her head slowly, but her smile was bright and beaming. She pulled him close, resting her forehead against his, and closed her hand over the necklace. Without a word, she reached up, pulling her mother's heirloom from its place on her neck, and replaced it with Aang's. She looked up at him, those impossibly blue eyes shining. "Does that answer your question?"

Aang smiled, and the two looked to the sunset.

* * *

Zuko opened the door to the dank cell. He knew he shouldn't have come here on his 'wedding' day, that it was supposed to be happy, but right now, he was furious with the man who had called himself Zuko's father. The cage within the cell had been replaced since Iroh extracted himself from it. Zuko walked into the cell and let the door close behind him. The stink hit him like a wave. Ozai obviously hadn't bothered bathing recently.

"I should could myself lucky that the Fire Lord would grace me with his presence in my lowly cell," Ozai said sarcastically, sitting on the floor in rags.

"Your assassins failed," Zuko said. "I don't know how you contracted them, but I felt you should know that. You sent four men to kill my wife in the night. Now they'll be spending the next few decades considering their stupidity in working for you on the Boiling Rock."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ozai said, but Zuko could smell the lie on him along with the stink.

"You must not. Otherwise you would have known that even a pregnant Azuli woman is worth ten assassins," Zuko said. "You are a very lucky man, for Aang to have spared your life."

"I feel quite lucky," Ozai said, staring hatefully.

"Be thankful you can feel anything," Zuko said. He tilted his head to one side. "Do you remember what you said, on the day of our first Agni Kai. I was thirteen years old, but I still remember it. Do you?" Ozai glanced away. "Your words were: 'You will learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher'. And the strange thing was, you were right. You banishing me was the kindest thing you could have done for me. In a roundabout way, you planted the seeds of your own destruction when you decided that I wasn't worthy as a son. Instead, you foist me upon my real father, and he showed me what real fatherhood is. He showed me a better path for my life. Maybe your time in this prison could do the same for you."

"We're walking around the issue," Ozai said. "You want to know where she is, don't you? That's why you've come to me again."

"I'm beginning to think you don't even know where my mother is," Zuko said harshly. "And even if you did, you enjoy seeing others suffer too much to tell me. So no, I'm not here to ask about my mother. I do have a question for you, though, one I know you have the answer to. The only issue will be if you're man enough to answer it."

"And what question would that be?"

"What did you _do_ to Azula?"

* * *

_The End_

_of_

_Children of Fire_

_

* * *

_

.

.

.

**Notice how I didn't click 'complete'?**


	22. Epilogue: The Lady of Flame

**Did you _really _think I was going to leave it like that? To answer a few questions, yes, I do intend to do a... well, not so much a sequel, as a continuation. Everybody got their happy endings except for a couple. One stands out head and shoulders, and I think you all know who. This? This is just a teaser. A few words in the right place, setting things up to come.**

**And to dash your collective hopes against the rocks, I haven't even started writing the next part yet, and don't plan to put fingers to keyboard until at least December. Unless my brain gets the better of me anyway.**

**And say hello to a new character. You'll be seeing quite a bit of him in the next part of the story.**

* * *

Aang hopped off of Appa's back, setting foot onto the grounds of the Southern Air Temple. It was strange to see it inhabited again. After the siege of Kad Deid was broken two years ago, many of the refugees, who had fled there from the North Air Temple, took up residence in the South. While they had turned the North into what Aang could only call a blasphemy against his former culture and his former people, the refugees did not bring that same smash and advance mentality with them to this new home. Of course, Aang was a different person now from when he'd first found the Mechanist and his people, on his way to the North Pole.

"Wow! This place is neat!" Ty Lee said, wide eyed and grinning.

"You've never been here before, have you?" Aang asked. She shook her head vigorously. "I'll have to show you the air-ball court some time. I think you'd really enjoy it."

"Look at all the people," Ty Lee said. "Who are they?"

Aang didn't answer her. She'd come a long way since he'd started teaching her back in the Western Air Temple. There was some irony in that if Aang hadn't been the Avatar, she could have been the greatest airbender of her age. Her potential and the rate of her advancement was astonishing. She was still flighty and got distracted at the drop of a pin, but that just underscored her savant nature. But right now, Aang had a mission, one he'd put off for far too long.

Aang moved up the hills, smiling as he heard the grunting of sky bison below. They didn't have airbenders to bond to, but they were comfortable returning to places ingrained in their genetic memory. While sky bison now could be seen in every sky, they congregated at the Air Temples, North, South, and West. There wasn't enough of the East left to attract them, it seemed.

"Go on, Basu, go and play!" Ty Lee said, and her own bison, much more energetic than laid-back Appa bounded over to the others and tackled one of them as it was eating. The two bison started to wrestle on the lower promenade. The sight of it brought back memories Aang thought he'd never see expressed again. It brought a smile to his face. Aang hadn't gone up the path long when he felt a rumbling under his feet. He glanced up the hill, and saw a pair of milky eyes staring down at him. Well, not really staring.

"That was a warning shot, Twinkletoes," Toph shouted. "You could have warned me you were coming. I don't like people sneaking up on me."

"Toph? What are you doing here?" Ty Lee asked, taking the words out of Aang's mouth. "Did you settle with the refugees? Are you still with Teo? I like your hair! How is your mother?"

"Gods, it's like undercutting a dam around you, ain't it?" Toph chuckled. She got to her feet as the two airbenders approached. "My question still stands. What the hell are you doin' here?"

"I could ask the same of you," Aang said.

"Mining," Toph said with a shrug. Aang's brow drew down. "Oh, don't be like that. I'm not undercutting the damned mountain. I just drag metal to the surface and sell it. It ain't easy bein' rich when you've got no money."

"Tell me about it," Ty Lee said. "Remember Fire Fountain..."

"Guys," Aang cut them off before they completely forgot he was there. Two sets of eyes, one of them useless, turned to him. "I'm looking for Teo. I was told he was here."

"Ah, you want Flyboy?" Toph asked. She beckoned for Aang to follow her. "You've been out in the world a bit more than I have in recent months. How are things?"

"The armies in the Earth Kingdoms are quiet," Aang said. "In the first year, there were attacks and guerrilla raids every other week, but now... Something's going on, and I'm don't know what," Aang rubbed his forehead, pushing his hair away. When he met up with Katara, he was going to need to get a haircut. It was an activity both enjoyed, but for different reasons.

"Bumi's in Ba Sing Se," Ty Lee added. "Since there's no Earth King, he's taken over – temporarily he says – as the Steward of the Throne. People seem a bit nervous about him having that much power, but I guess they think it's better than anarchy."

"Yeah, somebody's going to have to nut up and become Earth King one of these days," Toph muttered. "Ain't like Kuei had any heirs. Dude died a virgin."

"We just came here from the South. Gods, you wouldn't believe the changes," Aang said, shaking his head. When he came out of the iceburg, the only civilization on that continent was a disorganized clutch of villages, each its own clan, spread over the ice. Now, there was a city. It lacked the majesty of the North, but they were already bringing in earthbenders from the south, making something lasting. Something permanent. Sokka had been adamant in establishing a house of learning there. Possibly just to shake the world's image of Water Tribesmen as illiterate barbarians. "Hakoda and Jei are now ruling a nation, rather than a village. And there are waterbenders coming out of every snowbank, it seems like."

"Suki had to retire," Ty Lee said sadly. "She won't be doing much fighting anymore. But I think she's happy enough as it is. There's not much fighting left on Kyoshi."

"Mai had a daughter," Aang said. "As I hear it, Zuko fainted dead away during the delivery," Aang laughed again at the mental image. "They called her Yuuki; if she's anything like her mother, it'll be a fitting name."

"Or her father, nowadays."

The three benders finally came to the first building, and somebody leaning into an arch, hammering a board in place, trying to keep the scaffolding that was in place sturdy. "Hey, Teo! Aang's here to see you!"

Aang's eyebrow rose as Teo turned, standing upright. He looked down, his eyes widening. Teo had legs. How did Teo have legs? Teo grabbed a cane and slowly, carefully moved his way closer. Toph patted him on the belly as he walked over. It was probably her equivalent of one of Ty Lee's rib-pulverising hugs... which the airbending student was currently unleashing on the boy. After extracting himself, Aang finally understood how the young man was upright. Those weren't real legs. They were made of wood.

"I see you're noticing Sokka's newest invention?" Teo asked. "Well, not really invention, considering Combustion Man came up with it first."

"That isn't his real name, you know," Ty Lee admonished.

"Whatever. Sokka made it lighter and more... well, usable," Teo smiled easily. "So what do I owe the pleasure?"

"You've always loved the sky," Aang said, walking up to the formerly crippled youth. He placed a hand on Teo's chest and another on his brow. He let energy flow, not tearing out, but adding in. A thud, like a thunderclap without a sound, rippled through those standing nearby. "I give you the sky."

Teo staggered back, slumping against the scaffolding. His eyes were very wide. "What... what did you do?"

"Three students aren't enough. The airbenders have to continue," Aang said, as the last trickles of the universal energy flowed away. "In the last two years, I've only found two people who had both the spark and the drive to become airbenders. You always had the drive, but you lacked the spark. So I gave you the spark. You are an airbender now."

Teo stared at his hands, then thrust them out at the snow on the mountaintop. Nothing happened.

"You'll still need to _train_," Ty Lee said with a laugh.

* * *

In a lot of ways, it wasn't fair having to grow up in the South Water Tribe these days. Ever since Katara's name became known to the world, she had become the standard against which everything the South produced was measured. And everything measured invariably was found wanting. It wasn't fair, but it didn't bother him very much. He had better things to occupy his time.

Like the fact that this Water Tribe bumpkin was now standing before the Fire Lord. Ked bowed low, hoping that his uncouth upbringing wouldn't shine through his skin. "You don't need to bow. I am not my predecessor. I don't demand fear," the Fire Lord said. Ked rose back to his feet. The Fire Lord wasn't excessively tall, still overtopping Ked a bit, but not by as much as the Tribesman would have expected. A beard adorned the line of his jaw, interrupted by a burn scar on his left eye that stretched back over the Fire Lord's ear. The story was that the previous Fire Lord gave him that.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting to meet somebody so..." Ked tried to find the word.

"I don't always let people know where I'm going," the Fire Lord said. "It defeats the purpose of seeing how they act when I'm not around," the ruler broke off, leaning toward Ked. Ked leaned back a bit. "You're younger than I was led to believe."

"I'm old enough," Ked said defensively. "I was trained by both Masters Pakku and Yugoda."

"And you are the healer that was recommended?"

"The finest in the world," Ked said without ego. While the difference in aptitude between he and say, Katara was so vast that it almost couldn't be charted, there was one area in which he excelled above all others, Katara included. If he'd been a woman, everybody would have thought it obvious and appropriate. Because he was a man, if a young man, people thought it odd. "I was Yugoda's finest student, as well as her last. Since this posting doesn't require me to get into brawls, my masters decided that I should spend some time learning practically."

"This is a sensitive subject," the Fire Lord said. "You have only one patient who must be seen. All others are per your discretion and subjugated to the needs of her."

"Who are we talking about?" Ked asked, suspicious. He was a healer. He couldn't just wait hand and foot on one person while everybody else suffered. The Fire Lord opened a room. It was stark; a thin, fire resistant mattress lying on the floor, and a latrine in a corner with a curtain for privacy. There was room for a desk and chair, but this room lacked them. What it had was a cadaverous looking woman staring at a candle flame, her long black hair uncared for, her golden eyes vacant. Ked felt something lurch inside him as he saw her.

"My sister," Fire Lord Zuko said quietly, painfully. "Everybody was terrified that she was plotting, waiting for a chance to escape. But it turned out..." he waved his hand toward the woman. "Once she became like this, nobody believed that anymore," the Fire Lord looked away, but his eyes had become damp. "Is there anything you can do for her?"

Ked moved into the room, inspecting the woman. Her limbs had atrophied from lack of use. She breathed, but it was weak and thready. Her eyes didn't blink nearly often enough. Ked pulled out a thin skin of water and set it aglow on his hand, and pressed it to her brow. He retracted it immediately, feeling as though he'd been zapped.

"I can fix the atrophy of her limbs," Ked said, dismissing her physical state as something he could remedy in about a week. "But her mind? There is chaotic energy in there. I don't know if a science exists which can help her."

"I was afraid you'd say that," the Fire Lord whispered.

"Which is convenient, because I'm starting one," Ked said. The Fire Lord glanced over at him. "What? Expecting Tribesmen to shiver in ignorance and darkness at the poles?"

"That sounds rather like what a friend of mine would say," Fire Lord Zuko said with a small smile. "And with about that same tone, too."

Ked blanched. "I apologize, Fire Lord. I was..."

"If it can help her, you will have _any_ resources you need given to your disposal," the Fire Lord said. He backed away, but gave his sister one last glance. "Please help her. She didn't deserve this."

* * *

Mong Ke stared around the room. Once the mightiest nation on the face of this Earth, and now, the only ones who still fought for it were huddled under a tent. Vachir was still with him, as was Ogedai, but Yeh-Lu, the traitorous bitch, decided to opt for the Dark Prince's amnesty. She always was weak. The other faces in the tent were also familiar to Mong Ke. Admirals Lee and Chan, and Liang from the eastern fleet. Generals Deng and Zanpo. Azun was not in attendance. He was probably dead. The man was a fanatic, his mind didn't have room for rational thought. Firemaster Jeong Jeong kept his own council, rather than fighting for room around the table. But there was one face which Mong Ke didn't recognize, one which looked no stranger to combat. It sat silently at the back of the tent.

"We're too spread out," Deng said, running fingers over the tiny map which people had to lean over each other to see. "Our forces are spread all over the face of the planet. If we want to have any chance of a military coup, we'll need to gather them, quietly, to a place where we have influence."

"Even if we do, what have we got? Two airships? A dozen ships?" Liang muttered. "Zuko has a hundred times the ordnance that we do. We should dig into the flank of Great Whales. We've retaken Pohuai stronghold. They would never be able to remove us again. This time we're prepared."

Shinu, of course, had no opinion on that. He stayed silent at the edge of the tent.

"You're all overlooking one important fact," the unknown said from the back. His voice was very deep, used to speaking at a even level and having others strain to hear it. He was not a man to shout, and it showed. Mong Ke didn't know what to make of him.

"And what would that be, outsider?"

"Legitimacy," the newcomer said, moving into the light of the braziers. His head was shaved, but thin strands of mustache and beard trailed from his face. Sharp green eyes overlooked the map. "You might be able to steal out one of Ozai's bastards from his concubines or whores, but the people will never agree to be ruled by one who is so obviously a puppet. And you _will_ need popular support, make no mistake about that."

"What do you know about politics?" Mong Ke asked.

"More than you ever will, soldier," the newcomer said. He pointed at the map. "In Ember, there is still a lot of anti-Zuko sentiment. It is a very pro-Ozai part of the Fire Nation..."

"So we invade Ember," Deng said. The newcomer shot him a look which was so loaded with derision that he'd might as well have reached over and slapped the old man across the face.

"No," he said evenly. "This will not be a swift process. There will be steps. First, we need to foment further discord against the Fire Lord in that region. When we appear, they will welcome us with open arms. It is not the time to be hasty. I've been on the wrong side of a war before. It is not a pleasant experience."

"I don't like your tone."

"I don't like your ignorance," the newcomer said, not backing down an inch. Mong Ke smirked. It was good to see Deng taken down a peg or two, by someone who wasn't overawed by the man's reputation alone. The newcomer bridged his fingers before his mouth. "We will need a symbol. It will have to be immanently and immediately recognizable. We require a known name, a known value. Somebody who has opposed Zuko in the past, somebody whom those in Ember trust."

"And who is that?" Mong Ke asked. The newcomer smirked at him.

"The 'legitimate' Fire Lord, of course," he said. He reached into his sleeve, swiping away the red plaque denoting Zuko's hold on Ember, and replaced it with another. This one was almost identical to the first, it bore the same design, the black, three pointed flame, but its background was electric blue rather than red. "When the time is right, Fire Lord Azula will return."

"She is a broken husk," Deng dismissed.

The newcomer smiled, then, a brutal, unforgiving smile. "So much the better."

* * *

Sokka put down his pen, staring out his window into the afternoon at Ba Sing Se. The city was still going about its daily business, as it had during the war, despite the war, and after the war. Unchanging continuity seemed to be something that these people took for granted. Needless to say, Sokka was already infamous with the local constabulary. He looked over to his calendar. In a few days, it would have been a year since he moved to Ba Sing Se. In the last four, he'd spent time talking to the wisest and most educated people on the planet. Months in the Fire Academy. A year in Burning Rock, where he actually worked with Ty Lee's little sister for a time. A year in Kad Deid. Pai Sho and brainstorming with Bumi. Occasional tea with Iroh. Time flew so fast.

It had been a long time since he saw Ty Lee. She was an airbender, and there was only one person in the world who could train her. It wasn't just a sensation that they'd been apart longer than they'd been together. But every morning, Sokka got up, went to his studies, and pushed the missing her out of his mind for a little while. It hurt. He was used to hurt. But if there was one little comfort he had, it was the knowledge that everything he loved came back to him eventually. He reached back and scratched the feathers on Hawky's head. The bird was an example of that rule.

Of course, the photographic camera was still a sticking point. He'd already published a treatise on the nature of benders since he landed in Ba Sing Se, one which was quickly circulating the academic community. But what he _really_ wanted was to understand how he'd done what he'd done to save Aang from Koh. He knew it was possible. All he had to do was figure out the parts that he'd skipped while fashioning the device. He stopped scratching characters and leaned back for a moment. He hadn't seen _anybody_ in Team Avatar for a while, now.

As his mind wandered away from useful activity, he reached over and looked at the last message that he'd gotten from home. Dad had remarried, and the community had little choice but to accept a pair of firebenders into it. Luckily, things had smoothed in recent years. While many had lost family members to the raids a generation ago, many of those voices were falling before the clamor of the young, wanting to see more, experience new things. Water was change, but the South Water Tribe had stayed pretty much the same for almost a thousand years. A shake up was a good thing. Katara and Aang had married, too. There were whispers that Toph had actually found herself a man as well. Sokka would have to see that to believe it.

Sokka reached for his drink, but was stymied. It was just out of reach. With a scowl, he turned back to his page, finishing a few notes. The world was changing. It felt like a lifetime ago that he'd discovered the boy in the iceburg. In a way, it was. Sokka scratched at his beard a bit. Its style was similar to the prop he'd worn when he was in his Wang Fire persona, but less exaggerated. Nobody saw the similarity. It was hilarious in its way. Sokka, distracted, reached for his glass again, and this time, felt it slide into his hand.

That wasn't right.

Sokka stared at the cup like it had tried to stab him. He put the cup a short distance away on the desk, then opened his hand again, reaching for it not just with his hand but with his will.

The cup slid toward him. Sokka blanched.

There was no way.

It wasn't possible.

Science said so!

"And yet there it is," Sokka said glumly. He drank quickly, then sat back, his arms crossed before him, a sour expression on his face. "Isn't that just lovely. I'm a waterbender."

"You're a what?" Ty Lee's voice came from the window. Hawky keened lightly at her familiar voice. She looked just the same as she always did, but _more_. Her hair was still in its braid, her clothes still revealing and garishly pink. She actually seemed to have developed even more bosom, though, and the swell of her hips put thoughts into Sokka's mind. His expression brightened in an instant, and he leapt up from his desk, dragging her through the window and spinning her up against the wall, his lips pressing into hers. She kissed back just as passionately. "Wow," she said, her eyes unfocused. Her feet were off the floor, such was the difference in their heights. "I should stay away more often."

"If you had, I would have thought you'd forgotten about me. You might not want that. Toph does call me Loverboy, after all," Sokka said throatily, nuzzling against her. He saw something on the back of her neck. A blue stripe. He leaned back. There was no arrow on her brow, but there were on her hands, and on her feet. Sokka gave her a surprised look.

"They seemed appropriate," Ty Lee said, showing off her partial Air Nomad tattoos. She grinned. "It's been a long time."

"It has."

"Aang says that I've learned all he could teach me," she said, singsong, hinting at something.

"Well that's wonderful," he said, pulling her close to his chest.

"Yes. Now," she said.

"What?"

"The answer to your questions," Ty Lee said. Sokka thought back, and realized the last questions that he'd asked her. He was in a much more foul mood than he was now. He'd demanded to know if she was _ever_ going to marry him, and if so, when? He'd just gotten his answer. He grinned, and swept her up. She laughed as he spun her about, throwing things off the shelves and knocking over a fragile lamp. He didn't care. He gathered her up to his chest and made toward the door, but as he left, he felt his eyes lock on that cup one more time.

Waterbender. The word seared at his brain like acid. It was almost as though everything he'd ever earned in his life would be obliterated by one act, one accident, one aspect of his being _he didn't even want_. Once, he envied his sister. But even when he envied her, he didn't want to be her. He knew what he had to do. What had happened, nobody would ever see. Sokka would never be known as a waterbender. Too much rode on it. As far as the world knew... that... _never_ happened.

* * *

Ked hugged his sister as they parted, and she got back onto the boat. Benell looked totally in place here on Grand Ember. She was his half-sister, child of the Raider who raped his mother; Benell looked more Fire Nation than Water Tribe. That she was a waterbender, and arguably a better one than he was, confused many. Ked had read Sokka Baihu's 'A Treatise on the Elemental Martial Arts', however. A bender was a bender, but what kind of bender depended on what society one grew up in. Benell, raised in the Water Tribes, could be nothing but a waterbender.

Ked looked _out of_ place. His dark skin and eyes a shade of blue approaching purple stood out starkly. He couldn't be mistaken for Azuli nor Embiar, and definitely was out of place around the Sozu. He didn't mind, though. He had a job, one which challenged him. He'd been making significant progress. Physically, at least. That mind was as closed today, after three years, as it had been the day he'd met her.

That didn't mean he was about to give up.

Ked reached for his keys and pushed them into the lock. The door swung without him turning them. Instantly, his senses went onto alert. Sokka might have been basically bullying he and the others when they were children, calling them 'his soldiers', but quite a few of the lessons that he'd taught were actually useful, and stuck. Like knowing when somebody was about to attack you. Ked let the door open slowly, so it wouldn't squeal and announce him. He moved into the room, pulling the tiger-seal fang knife from his belt. A waterbender he may be, but fighting had never been his strong suit. Give him a knife, though, and see what Fire Nation thief could face him.

Ked's eyes flit about the room, corners and corners, up and down. Few people looked up, and that made them easy to catch up. As Ked's eyes swung to where the door had stopped inside, he saw a pair of hands thrusting a bag toward his head. Ked slashed out, tearing the bag open and nicking the man's hands, causing him to fall back with a curse. Another came from around the door, swinging a truncheon. Ked stabbed through the man's forearm, pinning it to the door. Ked pulled the emergency water out of its flask and fashioned it into a pair of spiked gloves, dropping into a low stance.

"Enough," a deep voice said from the shadows of the room. The sound of stone grating against stone sounded, and the would-be kidnappers went silent. Well, except for the pained grunts of the man with the impaled forearm. "You handle yourself well, waterbender."

"You want to see just how well?" Ked asked.

The man who appeared from the darkness was shaven-headed, or possibly naturally bald. A scar reached down one side of his face, an old injury, well-stitched and fading. His eyes were a piercing green, and he had the look of somebody used to reading much from little. Funny thing was, Ked had become much the same. "I don't think that will be necessary, Ked of the South Water Tribe," the man said smoothly. "Forgive my... exuberance. I didn't know if you would be amenable to conversation."

Ked narrowed his eyes. "What do you want?"

"You are the doctor in charge of the care of the princess, correct?" the man asked. Ked didn't let the surprise show on his face. As little as it was known that Azula was in the hospital, it was even less known that he was her doctor. "I take that silence for the affirmative. We have an offer for you."

"What do you want?" Ked asked again. The man finally pulled his arm, knife still inside it, off of the door. Ked turned to him. "You're going to want to see a surgeon about that. I was careful not to hit your arteries, but if you try pulling it out yourself, you might kill yourself."

"You have an assassin's hands," the green eyed man said. "You care for the princess."

"It is my job," Ked admitted, but the phrase had more than one meaning.

"Then I'm going to ask you to continue... doing your job," the man said. "But it will have a change of venue."

"You're taking the princess?" Ked asked. The man raised an eyebrow. "We're not all ignorant savages, you know."

"Indeed," the man said. "I learned that lesson well, the last time one of your people outsmarted me. Will this be a problem?"

Ked's eyes narrowed. "That you're taking her?" the man, who practically screamed Dai Li from the way he stood, nodded. "And I can assume that there's nothing I could do to stop you?" the man nodded again. "Then I don't see much of a choice."

The man smiled then, a dark, poisonous smile. "You are correct. Do your job, Ked. That is all I ask."

The man departed, leaving a pouch of money on the table next to him as he did. Ked stared after. He looked at the money, and at those who departed. He put his water back into its flask. Things were about to get much more complicated in Ked's life. He just knew it.

* * *

It was hot. Damned hot. In a lot of ways, it reminded him of home. The sands of Si Wong stretched seemingly endlessly in all directions as the platform began its descent. Sokka's directions had been as good as his word. Zuko would have gone sooner, but things kept popping up, between the restitution arrangements with the other participants in the Weary War and the constant threat of the Ozai loyalists both at home and abroad, it was astounding he even had time to think for himself.

One of the first things that he'd had to do in the palace were to evict Ozai's courtesans. It pained him to do so, especially because quite a few of them had bastards by the former despot, but Jee was adamant that the change over had to be complete. As well, there was a chance that somebody would try using one of those offspring to overthrow Zuko, and having them in the palace only made things more tenuous for him. Not that the six years since he'd become Fire Lord were utterly bereft of joys. Originally, mistresses were only supposed to be used if the Fire Lady couldn't produce an heir. Since Mai had, in the last six years, given two healthy daughters, and a third child being on the way, those worries were quickly silenced.

Azula was no better.

While she no longer looked like a breathing corpse, her mind was still gone. He couldn't help but feel responsible for that. Which, if Mai were here, she'd tell him to stop being a soft-hearted idiot, that he'd given her every chance to end things reasonably and peacefully. But still, it was because of that last fight, that battle to the death that she had almost killed him in, that she was in her current state. Zuko leaned around the edge of the dome, and signaled. The platform began to lower, out of the heat and into Wan Shi Tong's library.

The descent was silent, but for the creaking of ropes. Zuko had been adamant that he come himself. His Phoenix Flare had been set aside today, in favor of the double flame headpiece of Roku. Down here, he wasn't the Fire Lord. He was just a man in search of answers. The platform settled onto the overhanging bridge which spanned a gap between a forest of bookshelves. Zuko looked around. It was a sight to behold.

Zuko heard sounds coming toward him, soft pattering on stone. He turned, and his eyes widened a bit before he averted his gaze. A cheerful, long bearded and long haired, utterly naked man was ambling toward him. The man stopped at the edge of the platform and made a small bow, a distant smile on his face.

"Oh, it's such a pleasure to see another man of learning," the man said brightly. "I am Professor Zei, head of anthropology at Ba Sing Se university. I have to tell you, I can't remember the last time I saw another human down here. Such a delight. What are these?"

"How... long have you been down here?" Zuko asked. Zei leaned back, pondering.

"I'm not really sure. Could be a lifetime. I did say I could have spent an eternity down here. I wonder what ever became of the Avatar. Such a wonderful specimen. I want to show him a few things I found down here," Zei said.

Zuko stared at the crazy old man for a long moment. According to Sokka, they'd come to the Library seven years ago. That was quite long enough for somebody to go crazy on their own. But then again, also according to Sokka, he was never that sane to begin with.

"Aang is fine. Where is the master of this library?" Zuko asked.

"Very few humans come to this library actually seeking audience with me," Wan Shi Tong's voice came, as the great owl leaned out from behind a bookshelf. "Especially once I made it known exactly how little I enjoy the presence of mortals."

"It is an honor to meet you," Zuko said diplomatically.

"Spare me your prattle, son of the Fire Lord," Wan Shi Tong said unpleasantly, striding toward him on taloned feet. "What is it that you want? All mortals ever want, with very few notable exceptions, is information on how to destroy their enemies. I will not allow my knowledge to be utilized for that purpose. Not anymore. Speak quickly, or you will find how my displeasure is announced."

Zuko turned, and pulled the spirit scroll from his robes, holding it up to the strigine spirit. Wan Shi Tong stared down at it. "This was taken from you a generation ago. I'm giving it back."

"That is... unexpected," Wan Shi Tong said. Zuko motioned to the pallet behind him. It was loaded to its capacity with obscure and ancient scrolls and tomes of knowledge.

"I also heard that one who came before me destroyed much knowledge. I believe it's only fair that I try to give some of it back," Zuko said. Wan Shi Tong leaned back, calculating.

"You have questions," Wan Shi Tong answered. "But not about warfare. I can answer one of them, mortal, but the other carries deadly consequences, writ into the weave of destiny. If I tell you where to find her, you two shall never meet."

Zuko was both flabbergasted and striken. He'd hoped that Wan Shi Tong would somehow know where his mother was. He'd long ago given up on Ozai. The man was a sadist and he obviously had no more a clue where Ursa was than Zuko did. And worse, he would not speak about... "What about the other question?" Zuko asked. "Since you seem to know what it is I would ask."

"Mortals are easy to read. They have such simple desires," Wan Shi Tong leaned over and glanced at Zei, who was sitting on the pallet, happily reading through the tomes Zuko had brought. "The Lady of Flames rises. You face a trial of grand proportions, mortal. And yours will not be the strength which can see you through. If she does not regain what the sundered king stole from her, I foresee that _your_ rule will be very short indeed."

"I don't understand," Zuko said.

Wan Shi Tong turned his head so that it was facing backwards. Then, turned it back, with the same slow, creepy pace. "She dreams of lightning. She awakens."

* * *

The dream was of pain. Screaming. Blood. She was restricted, her arms chained down. Her back was aflame with pain. There were other pains. Shameful pains. She struggled, she fought, but she was weak, hopeless. If only she hadn't... she didn't even know what. The dreams came and went. No, that wasn't true. The dreams came, and they tormented her, until that voice made them go away. In a way, she was beginning to draw an odd sort of comfort from that voice. Even though it lied.

The smell of ozone.

Lightning.

Azula felt her eyes snap open. Her head hurt the first few moments, and she clutched at her face for a moment. It was as though she had been sleeping for weeks. A pounding headache assaulted her. She looked at her hands. They didn't look right. The fingers were longer than she remembered, and the fingernails entirely too short. Without really thinking about it, Azula began to worry a nail between her teeth as she looked around.

The room was tiny. She had closets bigger than this at the palace. The bed under her was thin and uncomfortable. The latrine only had a curtain for privacy. Prison? Azula got to her feet. It took more effort than she expected. She felt extremely weak, like she'd been resting far too long. There was no mirror here. But there were also no chains. A try of the door handle found that the door wasn't even locked. What sort of prison was this?

She stepped away from the door for a moment, running her hands through her hair. It was longer than she remembered. This probably reached the back of her knees. How long had she been asleep? She glanced around. There was nothing she could use in this room. The only thing she had was her white robe. She quickly looked down her collar. No undergarments, even. She stopped, staring at her own chest. It didn't look right.

Her head quickly came up as somebody entered her room, looking in a hurry. His skin was dark, but he wore Fire Nation clothing and had a Fire Nation hair style. When he turned, and his eyes were almost purple, she was already lashing out, pinning him to the wall with a forearm, and igniting a lancet of blue fire from two fingertips. At least that still worked.

"You made a mistake coming alone," somebody said. Azula scowled. That wasn't her voice. It couldn't be.

"I'm not alone," the Tribesman said, with remarkable calm. "I was just... surprised... to see you active."

"Surprised?" that other voice said again. Azula chastised herself. She wanted the words to come out, and they came out sounding the way that they did. This was her voice, even if it was a bit unfamiliar. Maybe she'd taken some hearing damage during her Agni Kai against... "Zuko. Where is that treasonous liar?"

"How are you even awake?" the Tribesman asked. He shook his head. "You know what? It doesn't matter. My name is Ked, and I am your doctor."

"I don't need a doctor."

"Not anymore, perhaps," Ked admitted. "But you do need somebody to help you."

"I don't need your help," Azula said, letting the fire move closer to his eyes. She was shocked when he didn't seem very intimidated. He was either utterly dense or possessed incredible nerves.

"Yes, you do," Ked said. "The world has changed, Lady Azula. You've spent the last six years in a catatonic psychosis."

Azula's eyes narrowed. "You're lying."

"Why would I?" Ked asked. "In about five minutes, people are going to come here and collect you. They expect you to be helpless. I don't know what they'll do if they see you... like this."

"Who?" Azula demanded. "Give me names!"

"I don't know names," Ked said just as loudly back. He scowled. "The most powerful one was an earthbender. Green eyes, deep voice, bald, scar running down his face. Ba Sing Se accent."

"Long Feng," Azula said. So he wasn't dead after all. When she said the name, Ked's eyebrow rose. "What do you want with me?"

"I am your doctor. I want you to be well," Ked said. And more importantly, he wasn't lying. "And I hope you're a good liar, Lady Azula, because I have no idea how we're going to get out of this with you... upright."

Azula smirked, that smirk that only Azula in all the world could manage. "Oh, I'm considered a _very_ good liar," the wheels turned inside Azula's mind, and a plan came to be in very short order. It was good to have clarity again. Wait, when had she ever lost clarity?

Azula released this Ked and moved back to her pallet. She sat down on the floor, her back to the corner. "You are going to 'attend' me. If you betray me, I will kill you, even if it means that Long Feng kills me in return. Are we clear?"

"Perfectly, Lady Azula."

"It's Fire Lord," Azula said.

"I'm sorry, but it isn't," Ked said. His apology sounded genuine. Azula heard people's voices moving closer, and she decided not to challenge her physician this day. She let all of her emotion drain away from her features, leaving her face an expressionless mask. Ked turned as the door banged open, and Azula made sure that she stared at nothing.

Still, she recognized those who had come for her. Ked leaned in, water around his hands glowing, as he cupped her cheek. He had better not move it anywhere else, or else he'd lose a hand. Long Feng stared down, contempt and amusement on his face. Behind him was Firemaster Jeong Jeong. So that was why she smelled lightning. Oddly, he had bandages covering one eye and cheek. Reddened bandages.

"Is she capable of moving?" Long Feng asked. Ked turned to him.

"Yes. It'll be tricky, but I think I can keep her stable. Just don't do anything... dangerous."

"I never thought I would see the Princess in this condition," Jeong Jeong said, contempt in his voice. Azula had to try very hard not to lash out and incinerate the old man where he stood. "Still, she will be useful. We have waited long enough. Tribesman, bring her."

Ked leaned past her, and scooped her up. She let her cheek fall against his shoulder, and stared at the side of his neck. He'd better not be enjoying laying hands on her royal person. If he was... In her peripheral vision, she watched as she was hauled through the hospital, while people wearing what looked like the armor of an Imperial Firebender, but electric blue rather than red, roamed the halls aggressively. This was something she would have to learn more about. Ked believed he was telling the truth when he said she was... catatonic for six years. It couldn't be that long, of course. _He_ had to be mistaken. But still, politics waited for nobody.

Azula was taken outside in the night, and deposited into the back of a carriage. Ked moved in beside her, shouting something to the driver in that impenetrable language of his, before the carriage lurched to motion and Ked ducked back in. With no eyes on her, Azula stretched, feeling her muscles. Weak. Atrophied, perhaps, but not six years worth. She would have been naught but a skeleton after that long.

"What is your angle in this?" Azula asked.

"I need an angle?" Ked asked with a smirk. Azula scowled.

"Everybody has an angle. Everybody uses everybody else. That's the way the world works. I use you to avoid Long Feng's attention while I get stronger. What do you use me for?"

"I don't suppose you would believe me if I said I have no intention of manipulating you to my ends," Ked said. She gave him a wan smile. He seemed to know her quite well. "You are just going to have to trust, and I know that it isn't easy for you, that whereas Long Feng wants you weak, I want you strong, and that I have reasons for it that will benefit both of us."

"Are you offering an alliance?" Azula asked.

"More like a partnership," Ked said. "You need me to keep Long Feng ignorant. I'm happy to oblige."

"If I don't like the cost you exact, I promise you won't enjoy the consequences," Azula said quietly. Ked actually smiled at that. He was either ignorant, or extremely confident. It didn't do well to assume the former.

"I don't set my prices very high, you'll find," Ked said. "But for now, we've got all the time we need. Get stronger Lady Azula. I'll keep you safe."

He was lying of course. He didn't think he was, but _nobody_ wanted to keep her safe. She was a monster. Everybody turned against her sooner or later. But still, one less thing to worry about now was important. If – if – she was six years behind the times, it would take her time to catch up. Azula set her mind to motion. The world would see the daughter of Fire return. And it would be glorious.

_To Be Continued_

_in_

_The War of Flames_

* * *

**Let me make this clear. Azula isn't fixed. She's merely functioning again. Considering the shit that she's trying to deal with (read, deny to herself that actually happened), it's astounding they didn't find her swinging from a light-fixture one morning. The next story is mostly hers, but it'll be following the viewpoints of a portion of the old cast as well. Zuko of course would be busy, being Fire Lord and all. So would Aang, being the Avatar and trying to build a new airbending nation. The greatest difficulty inherent in this project is not only knowing what Azula would look like if she were mentally healthy, but also, how to get her there without betraying her character and making her into something she's not. **

**She needs to rebuild herself, but she doesn't even know that it's possible, let alone how to do it. She still believes her father. And as Ursa said to her, Ozai always lies. For Azula, coming to understand the relationship she actually had with her mother (as opposed to the one she thinks she did), and finally accepting what Ozai did to her (which she utterly refuses to think about) are two of the major roadblocks to becoming the person I think she could have always been. I have always held that without Ozai, Azula would have been Fire Lord, and she would have deserved it. As evidence by another source, I reference "The World Without the War", another AU fic, where Azula was saved from her father's poisonous influence, and stands firmly on the side of the angels. **

**If Y'all got questions, ask them. I won't spoil the plot of the War of Flames, but I can answer pretty much anything else.**

**Firehealing: As I see it, Firebenders and Waterbenders are actually what happens when you take an energybender and split it in half. Waterbenders control energy outside themselves, firebenders, inside. Ergo it would make sense that both could heal, but in very different fashions. Waterhealing (with some exceptions) is a slow process, which takes its energy from (and thus can deplete the strength of) the person being healed. The waterhealer provides structure and support, while the victim's own energy heals the wounds at an accelerated rate, or else are allowed to heal when naturally they would be unable to. Firehealing takes a different approach. Instead of giving support and guidance for the victim's energy to heal himself, firehealing pipes the healer's life energy into the victim, very rapidly repairing damage, but with less precision. Thus, firehealing is dangerous to the healer, not the victim. While waterhealing seldom leaves scars, firehealing always does. Certain events (full moon, Blood Moon, being as good a healer as Ked) allow waterhealers to use the water to implant their energy into a waterhealing attempt, giving the best of both worlds, if at a cost of vastly increased risk to the healer; Waterhealers aren't experienced... ordinarily... in controlling their own energy. They're a lot more likely to suffer harm from overdoing their healing than a similarly powerful and skilled firehealer would be.  
No. I haven't read Embers. Read its TVTropes page, though. I can see where one would draw comparisons.**

**EDIT: Forgot something sort-of important. Also, starting to write War of the Flames. You might see the first chapters after Christmas. Part 4 of the Children of War is coming. Just be patient.**

**EDIT 2: Might be a bit after Christmas. Progress on the War of Flames is much slower than I would have liked. Still. Progress. Five chapters in.**


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